Search: me-cfs

Benjamin Bestgen takes a timeous look at freedom of expression. See his last primer, on marriage, here. Evelyn Hall, the author of The Life of Voltaire, famously acquainted us with a summary of Voltaire’s belief in freedom of speech: “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to th

Ten police officers who brought a petition for judicial review of the decision by their superior to conduct misconduct proceedings against them using WhatsApp messages sent to and from them have had their reclaiming motion against the refusal of the Lord Ordinary of their petition refused by the Inn

A taxi driver who had his licence suspended by a local authority on the ground of no longer being a fit and proper person to hold such a licence has had his appeal against the decision refused.  Scott McMillan argued that West Lothian Council had made several errors in their cons

The environmental organisation Greenpeace has had its petition for judicial review of the decision to allow the development of a North Sea oil field refused. The Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy, the first respondent to the petition, granted consent to BP

A Nigerian citizen with no right to remain in the UK who was ordered to be deported following the end of a prison sentence has successfully appealed a decision of the Upper Tribunal that his deportation would not disproportionately interfere with the ECHR rights of his family.  The appellant,&n

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

Criminal defence work may be a tough gig, but for an aspiring writer of crime fiction it has one key draw: it throws up a huge amount of material to work from. Indeed, when Russel & Aitken partner William McIntyre decided to turn his hand to novel writing a little over a decade ago he found he h

The son of a deceased dairy farmer who entered into two loan agreements in respect of two farms has succeeded in obtaining a proof in his action to reduce the agreements.  William Lindsay argued that the loan facilities, which concerned one farm in England and another in Scotland, were obt

A Nigerian citizen who was refused indefinite leave to remain has successfully challenged the decision of the Home Secretary that there were no exceptional circumstances justifying the exercise of discretion in her favour. Ruth Awa was temporarily unlawfully present in the UK during a period be

The High Court in London recently heard an application which had as its aim the exclusion of evidence obtained in the course of law enforcement activity into the EncroChat platform. For reasons which this article will hopefully make obvious, that application will in time be remembered as simply the

A sheriff in Perth has absolved a man of any wrongdoing in a car accident that took place on a back road near Blackford in the Perth and Kinross area.  The pursuer, ER, claimed the defender CD had struck her car while travelling at excessive speed around a bend, and sought damage

A statement made by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) about the lawfulness of requesting, gathering and collating data on individuals’ biological sex "misrepresents the law", according to a legal opinion commissioned by Woman’s Place UK (WPUK). Asking an individual the

The High Court of Justiciary has determined that a man who was charged with causing two deaths by dangerous driving could not also be charged with perverting the course of justice by stating his defence to the charge. The defence given by Graham Turner to the dangerous driving ch

A building contractor that was hired to construct an extension at a school in Ayrshire has succeeded in an action to enforce an adjudicator’s award following a dispute with the local authority. The pursuer, D McLaughlin & Sons Ltd, was contracted by the defender, East Ayrshire Co

A top lawyer has called for drug use to be decriminalised in order to combat Scotland's drug deaths crisis. Iain Smith, of Keegan Smith Defence Solicitors, said removing the criminal element from drug use will help users to be seen as “people who are in pain and in need of help”.