Search: Scottish syndicate purchased land 1901 for £5000

Lawyers across Scotland are withdrawing from legal aid schemes due to their continuing dispute with the Scottish government over fees. Solicitors in Edinburgh, Aberdeen and the Borders are not participating in duty solicitor schemes in a move that should cause widespread delays to court proceedings

Some 2,000 mobile phones have been confiscated from prisoners in Scotland because of rule breaches. The figures were obtained in a freedom of information request made by the Scottish Conservatives, who said phones given to inmates earlier in the pandemic should now be taken back.

This month may prove to be the “most challenging time of the pandemic”, according to the head of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service. Eric McQueen has warned that the increasing level of positive Covid cases and need to self-isolate are likely to cause further case delays and that

Holyrood's Criminal Justice Committee is detailing some of the changes it wants to see made in the Scottish justice sector in a new report published today. Following a series of hearings looking at justice issues, the committee is setting out the actions it wants to see taken to improve outcomes in

Douglas J. Cusine highlights a worrying bias in the Scottish government's consultation on the 'not proven' verdict, which sits alongside its botched consultation on the reform of legal regulation. As was mentioned in Scottish Legal News in December, the Scottish government is consulting on the &ldqu

In December 2021, the Scottish government published its terms of reference for the Scottish Covid-19 inquiry, to be chaired by Scottish judge, Lady Poole. The overall aims of the inquiry are to investigate the strategic handling of the Covid-19 pandemic in a number of areas in order to establish the

The Scottish government’s updated procedure for handling formal complaints by civil servants about a minister’s or former minister’s behaviour has been published. The independent procedure, which has been developed in partnership with trade unions, will now be reviewed further by t

The Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) has been successful in securing a file required to investigate a complaint – but only after raising court proceedings against the firm in question.  Following a complaint made to it, the SLCC had first requested the file from the firm in May

An advocate who was fined by the Scottish Legal Complaints Committee after it found he had failed to act in a client’s best interests by failing to disclose the terms of a feeing arrangement to senior counsel prior to settlement negotiations has lost an appeal against part of the decision. Jon

All short-term let properties will require a licence to ensure they are safe and the people providing them are suitable, under legislation approved by the Scottish Parliament. Local authorities will be required to establish a short-term lets licensing scheme by 1 October 2022, and existing hosts and

A petition seeking judicial review of guidance accompanying the sex question on the Scottish census will be heard by the Court of Session next month. Fair Play For Women is instructing Dean of Faculty, Roddy Dunlop QC, in the case.

On 22 December the Scottish government ushered in a reform of the legal services market that has been sitting on the statute books for more than a decade, when it authorised the Law Society of Scotland to begin acting as an approved regulator under the Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2010. This change

The Law Commission of England and Wales and the Scottish Law Commission have today published a joint report making recommendations for the safe and responsible introduction of self-driving vehicles.  The report recommends introducing a new Automated Vehicles Act, to regulate vehicles that can d

Police officer numbers in Scotland are at their lowest point since early 2009 – well before the Scottish government merged forces to create Police Scotland in 2013. There are currently 17,117 full-time police officers serving across Scotland, as of December 2021, surpassing previous lows recor

A contempt of court hearing linked to the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission's (SLCC) attempts to recover a file has ended with contempt not being upheld against a solicitor, but with costs awarded. The hearing at the Inner House of the Court of Session was ordered in relation to a solicitor&rsquo