Search: Peter Watson

Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC has said she is not considering her position after coming under sustained criticism from opposition MSPs over an email she sent to the first minister concerning criminal allegations against the former SNP chief executive, Peter Murrell. Ms Bain wrote to John Swinney in

Holmes Mackillop Solicitors has announced a quartet of promotions from solicitor to senior solicitor. The four promotees are: Grant Cairnduff, Hannah McKay, Mark Joseph and Rachel Loose.

David J Black is underwhelmed by the US investor’s plans for a pod hotel in an elegant Edinburgh crescent. A mere few months have passed since Keir Starmer, chancellor Rachel Reeves, and trade minister Peter Kyle victoriously announced that they had secured a magnificent £150 billion dea

Compass Chambers and its members have once again received top rankings from the Legal 500 in the 2026 edition of the directory. Compass received 26 individual rankings across three practice areas. It was once again recognised as a top tier stable in both Crime & Regulatory and Personal Injury &a

An appeal against a decision that VAT was chargeable on investment fund success fees that became payable after the investment adviser left the VAT group of the company holding the fund has been unanimously dismissed by the Supreme Court. The Prudential Assurance Company Ltd argued that no VAT was ch

Claims that the UK could leave the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) without breaching the 1998 Good Friday Agreement (GFA) are "not credible", a new report has concluded. A new report by Professor Colin Murray of Newcastle University and Professor Aoife O'Donoghue of Queen's University Bel

A sheriff has issued an eviction warrant against members of a self-styled “African tribe” who have been camping on private land near Jedburgh. At Jedburgh Sheriff Court on Friday, Sheriff Peter Paterson granted the order against the so-called Kingdom of Kubala, saying it would take effec

A Lord Ordinary has recalled a petition by two companies seeking to reclaim computer code from two former employees on the basis that they had breached confidentiality and infringed their copyright after finding that the petition had been granted without full disclosure. PE Ltd and another company s

The Court of Appeal of England and Wales has dismissed an appeal by six insurers against a decision that they required to pay out on the war risks policy of a vessel detained by the Indonesian navy under border security laws in 2019 after concluding that no exclusion in the policy had been engaged b

Recent headlines have reignited debate over the lack of regulation for expert witnesses in both civil and criminal cases. But amid calls for tighter oversight, it’s worth asking whether formal regulation would fix the problem or just add another layer of bureaucracy, writes Christine Rolland.

In a significant judgment handed down on 10 June 2025, the Court of Session has clarified the complex relationship between insurance policy avoidance and insurers’ rights to recover settlement payments, writes Robyn Coates. The case of Ian Whyte v David Arthur and UK Insurance Limited [2025] C

Two Scottish pensioners who lost their entitlement to Winter Fuel Payment and the equivalent Scottish benefit to be introduced in winter 2024/25 after changes were made to the eligibility rules have lost a judicial review challenge to the decisions of both the UK and Scottish governments. Petitioner

The University and College Union has successfully defended claims made against it in the Employment Tribunal by two UCU members who argued they had been discriminated against and harassed by the union because of their gender critical beliefs. The case relates to UCU's Edinburgh University branch opp

The lawyer who led a recent review of the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has said it is “absolutely inevitable” that further miscarriages of justice will come to light following the quashing of Peter Sullivan’s murder conviction after nearly four decades in prison. Mr Sull

Ministers have shelved plans to allow AI companies to train their models on copyrighted material unless creators actively opted out, following a backlash. The original proposal, floated in a December consultation, would have created a copyright exemption in favour of AI developers, placing the onus