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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

Very few of you will have tuned into the Roberton Report a couple of years ago. Even fewer will be aware that the Scottish government (after a lengthy and entirely understandable delay) is only now consulting on its recommendations. Even fewer will respond to the consultation. Why should you? How co

In The Times today, Jamie Greene, the Scottish Conservatives’ shadow justice secretary criticises the new guidelines on sentencing which state that those under 25 should be spared jail, wherever possible. I do not have a problem with that suggestion, but only if the public can be assured that

Douglas J. Cusine questions the purpose and scope of the proposed register of judicial interests. The Scottish government is insisting on a register of judicial interests, to promote the ends of “openness and transparency”. It is unlikely that any arguments presented by the former and cu

We have a new justice secretary who, at least in one respect, bears a similarity to his predecessor: he has not made any public statement about the ill-fated prosecution of Whitehouse and Clark, the Rangers’ administrators. I wrote to Keith Brown on 19 May asking about a public inquiry and rec

An owner of a converted stable house in Elie, Fife, whose parking rights over a neighbouring property were altered to allow a new home to be constructed has unsuccessfully challenged the variation in the Inner House of the Court of Session. Bridget Thomson, who used the property as a holiday ho

Douglas J. Cusine challenges Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf to break his silence on Scotland's malicious prosecution scandal. A month ago, I posed the question in relation to the Rangers malicious prosecution case: “Where has the Justice Secretary gone?” He has not even said whether ther

With a father who was a procurator fiscal and two older siblings who had entered the legal profession too, meal-time conversations in Calum MacNeill’s childhood home were very much focused on the law. Given that background, it is perhaps unsurprising that the young Mr MacNeill was determined t

Gerry Sinclair never planned to spend close to two decades as chief executive and principal solicitor at the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC). Having cut his teeth at Ross Harper & Murphy before spending 15 years as a named partner at Sinclair McCormick & Giusti Martin, he e

Douglas J. Cusine asks, among other things, why Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf has said nothing about the malicious prosecution scandal? In his statement to Parliament about the prosecution of Whitehouse and Clark, the Lord Advocate made three observations. One was that there should be a judicial in

Eric McQueen, chief executive of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS), has written to bar associations in response to a letter raising concerns about the implementation of Covid-19 protections in court and tribunal buildings. We reproduce his letter in full below. Thank you for your lett

When Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf announced plans for increased fees and a series of grants in the dying days of 2020, he said he was offering up a “significant package of support” for legal aid practitioners who had “worked hard since the Covid-19 outbreak to help maintain acces

As a 17-year-old, I first met the late, great, and sadly missed David Lessels (1949-2018) at a law school information day. I brashly declared I would become an advocate. He smiled wryly. Fast forward several penniless years to my traineeship. At last I was earning. Two years later, I even had some m

Much has been said about the plight of criminal defence lawyers in recent years, from the inadequacy of legal aid fees to the impracticality of working hours. Almost all of it has been from the point of view of practitioners with decades of experience in the sector, though. McGovern Reid solicitor M

Balfour & Manson partner Robert Holland is convinced that employment is the best practice area for a lawyer to work in because it offers what he describes as the “best combination of black-letter law with a human-interest angle”. As head of his firm’s employment practice he wou