Search: David J Black

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.

"Take that, sir. By God, sir, you shall more of this yet!,” cried Scottish banker George Morgan as he struck a merchant on the head with his umbrella. The incensed victim, David Landale, replied through the crisp Kirkcaldy air in measured breaths: "You are a coward, sir, a poor, silly coward."

The Court of Appeal of England and Wales has dismissed an appeal by six insurers against a decision that they required to pay out on the war risks policy of a vessel detained by the Indonesian navy under border security laws in 2019 after concluding that no exclusion in the policy had been engaged b

A Glasgow sheriff has awarded just over £17,500 to an electrician and approved rot contractor who carried out communal work to his second cousin’s property before it was sold for over £1.1 million after finding that he was not paid the majority of the sum due for the job and the co

Scotland risks breaching the European Convention on Human Rights due to the way its rape laws are being interpreted in certain cases, according to the bodies representing the legal profession. In a joint submission to the Supreme Court, the Faculty of Advocates and the Law Society of Scotland raised