Opinion

Jenny Dickson considers what a human rights based approach in the Scottish and UK Covid-19 Inquiries may look like. Both the Scottish and the UK governments have established public inquiries to examine the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. The inquiries are underway, both considering a wide range o

Foreign nationals who are in the UK on sponsored visas find themselves racing against the clock following a redundancy, but employers also bear responsibility, writes Kelly Hardman. Global companies across a swathe of sectors, including finance and technology, continue to announce job cuts and many

Rob Marrs, head of education at the Law Society of Scotland, details the support of the Scottish legal community for Ukrainian lawyers. I’ll confess that my knowledge of Ukraine prior to last year’s invasion by Russia was limited. I knew the names of some of the cities. I had a vague ide

With Scot­land and the rest of the UK con­tin­u­ally miss­ing house­build­ing tar­gets, Fraser Mitchell asks: what are the road­blocks to build­ing? Figures from industry body Homes for Scotland indicate that there is currently a shortage of almost 100,000 hom

Friday, 24 February 2023 marked one year since Russia launched its illegal invasion of Ukraine. Law Society of Scotland president Murray Etherington reflects on what has been lost and achieved in the past year, and on the importance of remaining steadfast in providing support through the struggles a

Throughout this year’s LGBT+ History Month, Shepherd & Wedderburn has produced a series of articles to celebrate LGBT+ peoples’ contribution to the production of film and cinema from ‘behind the lens’. The first article, written by Michelle Clement, focussed on the aesthe

Ben Zielinski and Alice Gray explain the details of the Deposit Return Scheme.  Scotland’s new Deposit Return Scheme (DRS) is due to come into force on 16 August 2023 as a result of the Deposit and Return Scheme for Scotland Regulations 2020.

The publication of the 2022 edition of the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) highlights that the perceived risk of bribery and corruption in many countries has shown no improvement - and in some important markets such as the UK is unfortunately worsening – which highlights the need for busine

It comes as no great surprise that Shamima Begum has lost her appeal against the Home Secretary's decision of 19 February 2019 depriving her of United Kingdom citizenship, writes Ronnie Clancy KC. This latest judgment from the Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) is the culmination of proce

Nicola Ross discusses two court procedures unique to Scotland which can be beneficial to parties. Scottish court procedure can often seem like a dark art to many practitioners located beyond Scotland. To be fair, sometimes that can be for good reason! However, there are ongoing efforts to modernise

Digby Brown recently successfully challenged an argument advanced by a defender regarding the application of section 8(4) of the Civil Litigation (Expenses and Group Proceedings) (Scotland) Act 2018 (‘the 2018 Act’). Sections 8(1) and (2) of this Act contain important provisions restrict

Angela Robertson discusses the case of Alan King v Black Horse Limited and Park’s (Ayr) Limited. The Sheriff Appeal Court in Edinburgh has recently (January 2023) decided an appeal on whether a hirer under a hire purchase agreement is entitled to rely upon their rejection of a motor vehic

The aim of LGBT+ History Month 2023’s theme, ‘Behind the Lens’, is to shine a light on and celebrate the contribution of members of the LGBT+ Community to television, cinema and film. Throughout the month, members of Shepherd and Wedderburn’s LGBTA+ Focus Group will produce a

The latest Confederation of British Industry’s (CBI) employment trends survey revealed three-quarters of UK business are struck by labour shortages and industries across the UK have reported significant issues with recruitment. Exacerbated by Brexit, the end of free movement and the impact of

Attention has recently focused on policy and practice concerning accommodation of transgender prisoners in Scotland.  However, the role of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) has been little discussed in this context. Accordingly, this post first addresses the general c