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An airport has capped goodbye hugs at a maximum of three minutes long. New signage at the drop-off section outside Dunedin Airport in New Zealand coldly states: "Max hug time 3 minutes. For fonder farewells please use the car park."

After more than two decades in legal practice, private client partner Beth Hamilton has retired from her position at Wright, Johnston & Mackenzie LLP (WJM). Ms Hamilton joined Bartys, then a branch of Borland, Montgomerie , Keyden, in 1999, initially as a part-time assistant specialising in will

Criminal barristers in Northern Ireland are to stage a one-day strike and begin to refuse serious cases in pursuit of an increase in legal aid fees. Following a ballot earlier this month, the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), which represents criminal barristers within the Bar of Northern Ireland, wil

A former lord chief justice has lent his support to calls for prisoners serving indefinite jail terms to have their sentences reviewed. Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd, who was England and Wales' most senior judge between 2013 and 2017, worries that those imprisoned under the abolished imprisonment for publ

Dear Editor, In your article in relation to the late Len Murray you reported that Tony Miller was the last ever prisoner to be hanged in Scotland.

Axiom is delighted to have received outstanding recognition in the recent Chambers UK 2025 with 115 individual rankings and achieving band 1 status in thirteen practice areas including their core areas of public and administrative law and commercial dispute resolution as well as company law, constru

Dear Editor,  Your story last week on the Council of Europe's biannual European Judicial Systems CEPEJ Evaluation Report revealed some interesting statistics and commentary on how Scotland compares with European neighbours on a range of measures.

Ampersand Advocates has once again demonstrated its exceptional standing in the Scottish legal landscape, securing top-tier rankings across multiple practice areas in the newly published Chambers and Partners UK Bar Guide 2025. The stable has been recognised as a Band 1 set in Clinical Negligence, P

Two hundred staff have been recruited by the Home Office to clear a backlog of 23,300 modern slavery cases. UK safeguarding minister Jess Phillips, said that the department intended to end uncertainty for victims by completing cases within two years.

The Taliban has banned media outlets across large swathes of Afghanistan from broadcasting images of living beings. State media in the provinces of Takhar, Maidan Wardak and Kandahar have been told they can no longer air or publish images of people or animals, Newsweek reports.

A new film about the exploitation of garment workers in the UK fashion industry has been released to mark Anti-Slavery Day 2024. The animation, based on research conducted by Glasgow Caledonian University London lecturer Erica Charles, tells of the human cost behind the production of clothing for fa

The US has introduced a new "click-to-cancel" rule aimed at making it easier for customers to cancel subscriptions and free trials. The new rule, introduced by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and set to come into force in six months' time, follows a series of high-profile lawsuits the regulator h

Former senior partner at Levy & McRae, the late Leonard Murray, features in new BBC documentary Inside Barlinnie. Mr Murray was the solicitor who defended Tony Miller, the last ever prisoner to be hanged in HMP Barlinnie after a murder conviction. Mr Murray was a young lawyer at the time, but it

A round-up of human rights stories from around the world. Israel slams UN probe on deliberate attacks to destroy Gaza’s health system

Dundee-headquartered Thorntons Wealth Management, with offices in Aberdeen and Edinburgh, has acquired Edinburgh-based financial planning firm Robson Macintosh. The deal completed on 27 September and brings the combined assets under administration and management for Thorntons Wealth Management and T