Search: David J Black

Several exciting speakers have been confirmed for the Faculty of Advocates' ever-popular annual 21st Century Bar Conference, to be held in Edinburgh next month. The Rt Hon Lord Pentland, Lord President and Lord Justice General, will deliver the keynote address at the free event.

The grandchildren of Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in the UK, are calling on ministers to grant her a posthumous pardon, arguing that she was a victim of domestic abuse. Ellis was executed in 1955 for the murder of her former partner, racing driver David Blakely, whom she had met two years

Nicole McQuilken reflects on the work of the All-Scotland Sheriff Personal Injury Court as it celebrates its 10th anniversary. 2015 seems like a long time ago. David Cameron was prime minister, the UK remained in the European Union, and artificial intelligence seemed like something from science fict

A Glasgow sheriff has dismissed an action by a divorced husband against his solicitors seeking damages in excess of £137,000 after finding that he had failed to plead a relevant case to establish either negligence or breach of contract after they did not inform him he would be liable for Capit

Arnot Manderson Advocates is delighted to report the remarkable achievement of 23 individual rankings including eight in Band 1 across 13 wide ranging practice areas in the latest announced Chambers and Partners listings.  As well as the haul of individual rankings Arnot Manderson has achieved

The Sheriff Appeal Court has quashed the conviction of a woman fined £100 for shouting and swearing and making a homophobic remark to a female complainer after finding that the justice of the peace had not adequately explained in her verdict why she preferred the evidence of the complainer. El

A sheriff principal has ruled that the rules of procedure of the Sheriff Appeal Court do not allow it to overturn an earlier decision made by the court in the same judicial process after the issue arose in an remitted case for medical negligence raised by a man who committed criminal offences after

Ministers have been criticised by Scotland’s transparency watchdog for wrongly attempting to block a freedom of information (FOI) request on the lord advocate’s reference to the Supreme Court over an independence referendum. In a sharply worded ruling, David Hamilton, the information com

The Hollywood template for a successful film has been said to be: ‘Start with an earthquake and build up to the climax of the story’. There is a sense by which Sir David Murray, admittedly on his own narrative, might have selected from a variety of earthquakes with a wide choice of excit

A solicitor jailed for financial crime has been ordered to hand over just £1 after a court heard he has nothing left of the £1 million he obtained illegally. Alistair Blackwood, 70, made £1,086,581 while working at a Paisley law firm, but prosecutors and defence lawyers told the Hi

Brian Inkster discusses the continued failure to implement alternative business structures in Scotland. Alternative business structures (ABS) in Scotland being kicked into the long grass was a possibility raised yesterday. This was at an online event organised by the Law Society of Scotland: 'Policy

A local authority councillor who groomed and sexually abused a vulnerable teenage girl has been jailed for more than two years. David Graham, of Methilhill, Fife, was found guilty on 23 July 2025 following a trial at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court.

On 12 August the Court of Session threw out a challenge to a local authority’s decision that commercial leases for £1 annually were a rates-avoidance scheme, with the result that the landlord rather than any occupying tenants was liable for non-domestic rates. The petition for judicial r

The director of a century-old Scottish machinery firm which went into administration last year has been banned after failing to declare more than £1.5 million in VAT.

The Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) has welcomed the refusal of an appeal brought against the body by Levy & McRae Solicitors.