CMS has introduced a new offering to the Scottish legal market with the launch of its Strategic Secondment Unit (SSU). The new unit provides a dedicated and experienced team of lawyers to directly support their clients within their business premises. The SSU offers Scottish clients a full-time, perm
Search: Scottish syndicate purchased land 1901 for £5000
Graham Ogilvy reviews the autobiography of James McIntyre, the Scottish criminal defence lawyer who got too close to his clients and ended up on the wrong side of the law. Firstly, a declaration of interest. I knew and liked James McIntyre at university where he was popular, cheerful, charismatic an
The Scottish government’s plans for new Environmental Performance Certificates (EPCs), whilst well intentioned, may in some types of property be impossible to achieve, property marketing company ESPC has warned. In the current system of EPCs, the most prominent metric is the Energy Efficiency
A critical cross-party MSP report on the Scottish government’s new legislation on regulating legal services has shown why the bill needs to change, the Law Society of Scotland has said. The Scottish Parliament’s Delegated Powers and Law Reform Committee has published its report on the Re
Plans to pardon those convicted of being witches in Scotland have been abandoned.
The Lawscot Foundation has launched its annual Baublefest Christmas fundraising campaign and is branching out to raise additional money for disadvantaged aspiring Scottish solicitors. The charity has more than doubled its Christmas fundraising target to £5,500, and is for the first time inviti
The Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) has been awarded expenses in relation to action taken to secure files from a solicitor to investigate a complaint against him. The solicitor failed to produce the file until the day before the contempt of court hearing against him first called. The cou
Lord James Douglas-Hamilton, a former Scottish Office minister in the cabinets of Margaret Thatcher and John Major, has passed away at the age of 81. The second son of the 14th Duke of Hamilton, he represented Edinburgh West as an MP from 1974 until 1997, and subsequently served as a list MSP for th
The tenant of a property on a country estate in the Scottish Borders has lost an appeal against the First-tier Tribunal’s decision not to make a determination of rent before the Upper Tribunal for Scotland, after the Tribunal found that it was temporarily not possible for the FTS to make such
Northern Ireland barrister James Stitt examines a Scottish case with significance for clinical negligence practitioners. Once more, a Scottish case has provided an opportunity for a substantial development of the law in the field of clinical negligence.
A watered-down bill to protect children's rights has been passed by the Scottish Parliament more than two years after the original version was ruled by the Supreme Court to be beyond the devolved chamber's powers. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) Bill requires
Scotland should recall recent history before approving a law that would make dictators blush, writes Andrew Stevenson. Last month the Scottish Law Agents’ Society gave evidence to the Equalities, Human Rights and Civil Justice Committee of the Scottish Parliament. We opposed the proposal to al
A Lord Ordinary has ruled that the UK government acted lawfully in vetoing the Scottish Parliament’s Gender Recognition Reform Bill from receiving lawful assent, after a legal challenge to the block was brought by the Scottish Ministers. It was argued for the petitioners that the preconditions
The Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) has maintained its performance and "consolidated historic lows in complaint handling time on reduced resource", according to its annual report. The report also highlights work to improve customer service, to use its expertise to inform parliamentary sc
The abolition of 'not proven' could endanger the presumption of innocence, ministers have been warned. Stuart Murray, president of the Scottish Solicitors Bar Association, told MSPs at Holyrood that the third verdict is a “safety valve” for jurors.