A notorious Italian mobster has been apprehended after being spotted in a photo of celebrating S.S.C. Napoli football fans in Greece. Vincenzo La Porta, 60, fled Italy 11 years ago and was sentenced in absentia to 14 years' imprisonment in connection with organised crime, tax evasion and fraud offen
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A landlord who was ordered to pay £4,000 to two former tenants after being found in breach of tenancy deposit regulations has had the sum reduced by £1,500 on appeal to the Upper Tribunal for Scotland. Gordon Bavaird, a landlord since 2017, had originally taken a deposit from tenants Lis
The City of Edinburgh Council has decided not to appeal a Court of Session ruling that found its short-term lets (STL) licensing policy to be unlawful.
The Flexible Working Bill will likely see more employees become aware of the right to make flexible working requests and the volume of these requests will increase, Laura Salmond suggests. On 29 July 2023, the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill received Royal Assent. These amendments
The Scottish government has launched a consultation on draft regulations transferring certain appeal functions of the Transport Tribunal and allocating new appeal functions relating to bus services improvement partnerships to the Upper Tribunal for Scotland. The consultation on draft regulations per
A new BBC podcast series uncovers what really happened when the Leonardo da Vinci painting, The Madonna of the Yarnwinder, was spectacularly taken from Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfries and Galloway in 2003. The Missing Madonna, which is available from 25 August on BBC Sounds, marks the 20th anniversary
A career criminal who acted as a “wages” paymaster to elite gangland figures and their families has been jailed for four years and eight months. Surveillance officers watched Gerard McTaggart, 47, of Glasgow, delivering bags containing thousands of pounds in cash to several locations lin
The Scottish Law Agents’ Society has responded to Holyrood's consultation on the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill. A condensed version of the response is reproduced below. We are deeply uneasy about why the Scottish government feels that it is desirable, appropriate or necessary to
Collected property taxes in Scotland have risen almost 50 per cent in the past two years, according to recent analysis. Property firm DJ Alexander Ltd reports that revenues from the Scottish government’s Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) in June 2023 stood at £61.7 million from 8
England: Legal Services Board to review regulators’ enforcement tools– including financial penalties
The Legal Services Board (LSB) has announced plans to review the enforcement and investigative tools available to the legal services regulators, including the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). This could include increasing financial penalties available to regulators, as well as enabling regulat
The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service is now in a position to start engaging with solicitor firms who wish to use the application programme interface (API) service for simple procedure claims. The service allows for bulk submissions of claims and would benefit those that do high volume simple pr
Litter-picking volunteers unexpectedly discovered a package containing a kilogram of cocaine worth up to £100,000 while cleaning a Cornwall beach. The wrapped package was found by volunteer beach cleaners taking part in an event organised by the 2 Minute Foundation last weekend.
Addleshaw Goddard has recorded an 18 per cent increase in both revenue and profit to £443 million and £184 million respectively. The firm said strong global performance contributed to its revenue growth. While its UK income grew by 14 per cent in the year ending 30 April 2023, income gro
Stuart McWilliams discusses the upcoming increases in UK visa fees, the impact on applicants and employers, and suggests strategies to minimise the financial burden of these changes. They say the only certain things in life are death and taxes, but most immigration lawyers will tell you that rising
An application for recall of an arrestment served by the City of Edinburgh council on the bank account of a man with unpaid council tax has been granted by an Edinburgh sheriff. Kevin McKenzie argued that funds in his Bank of Scotland account could not be lawfully arrested as his sole income was der