Opinion

Tom Stocker, partner and sanctions expert at Pinsent Masons, discusses the implications for businesses that comply with sanctions on Russian trade. Despite successive rounds of UK, EU and US sanctions ratcheting up the pressure on Putin’s government and a further round of sanctions being immin

The development of Covid-19 status, check-in and vaccine apps saw us generate more health data than ever before, but this was accompanied by concern over privacy and potential misuse of data. These experiences with Covid show just how important transparency and clarity on how information is used are

Last week was not a good week for the Faculty of Advocates. The findings of an internal disciplinary hearing provoked Rape Crisis Scotland to allege that there existed "a culture of misogyny amongst some members of the Faculty of Advocates and lay bare an environment where entitled, arrogant attitud

Angus Wood discusses the details surrounding the assignation of claims in an insolvency case. The recent Court of Appeal decision in Lock v Stanley has provided some comfort to Insolvency Practitioners and litigation funders in relation to potential challenges to assignations of claims, as well as h

The Scottish government’s cladding remediation programme continues to generate law reform with the announcement yesterday that the Single Building Assessment (SBS) programme will be expanded. The pilot SBS scheme, designed to replace the EWS1 external wall assessment process in Scotland, came

It is difficult to disagree with the sentiments expressed in the editorial about the actions of Messrs Jackson and McConnachie who have damaged the reputation of the legal profession in Scotland and the Faculty of Advocates in particular. There will be those who would wish these two to be removed as

In recent years, three cases before the Sheriff Appeal Court have clarified the powers of a sheriff where a court action is undefended, and have ruled that the sheriff’s power of inquiry is extremely limited. The rulings are significant for creditors engaged in volume litigation – partic

The barbarity of the invasion of Ukraine is not confined to the loss of life and limb, nor to the displacement of millions of citizens. Cultural objects, including large libraries and archives, are especially vulnerable. The Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Ar

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) considerations have taken on an increased significance in recent years, and the pace of change is accelerating. ESG performance is becoming an additional standard by which businesses are being judged by consumers, investors and other stakeholders. With incr

Alice Minick believes the Court of Session case Van Oord UK Ltd v Dragados, which overturned an adjudicator's decision on the grounds of a breach of natural justice, provides an interesting opportunity to examine a successful challenge of an adjudicator's decision. It is unusual these days

The Scottish government’s new Strategy for Economic Transformation for the next decade has been drawn up. The strategy focuses on the three areas of promoting investment, start-up business ventures and new green industries, and its goal is to see the Scottish economy outperform economic growth

Hamish Lean discusses how farmers in Scotland have been outbid by the forestry industry, as the value of hill land rises. Is productive agricultural land being lost to forestry in the race to meet net-zero? There has been concern within the agricultural industry for some time that this is the case.

Iain Drummond and Lindsay Robinson comment on impending changes to the prescription regime. Prescription is the legal rule in Scotland that prevents a person from pursuing their legal rights to a claim after a certain time period has elapsed (the equivalent in England is limitation). A claim ‘

The Auditor General’s recent report on the construction of two CalMac ferries identifies various failures. One critical aspect is the breakdown of relationships between two of the main protagonists, CMAL, the Scottish government-owned ferry purchasers, and FMEL, the ferry builders, alongside f

Ryan Macready, senior solicitor at Macdonald Henderson, discusses the intricacies of buying and selling accountancy practices. The majority of Scottish accountancy firms are owner-managed independent general practices, with a local client base. When approaching retirement age, these owner-managers w