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Peter Murrell has been sentenced to five years and three months in prison after admitting embezzling more than £400,000 from the SNP while serving as its chief executive. Murrell, the estranged husband of former first minister Nicola Sturgeon, stole £400,315.65 over a 12-year period. The

A Supreme Court justice and a leading academic have independently raised the alarm over a sharp fall in civil appeals reaching the Inner House of the Court of Session, warning that the long-term development of Scots law is at risk. Lord Doherty, delivering the Lord Rodger Memorial Lecture in Glasgow

A man who threw a shoe at a prosecutor after being remanded in custody has been jailed for 30 months. Stuart Young, 21, struck procurator fiscal depute Tammy Hislop on the head during a hearing at Airdrie Sheriff Court on 2 March 2026.

Police recorded 315,357 crimes in Scotland in 2025-26, a five per cent increase on the previous year and the highest total in more than a decade, with sexual offences reaching their highest level since comparable records began in 1971, new figures from the chief statistician show. Non-sexual crimes

An AI-powered law firm has secured its first courtroom victory, in what is believed to be a world first for a regulated legal practice operating through artificial intelligence. Garfield AI, which became the first AI law firm authorised by the Solicitors Regulation Authority in May 2025, successfull

Proposed reforms to how the Faculty of Advocates handles disciplinary complaints will not be in place until at least late 2026 – nearly three years after the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) first demanded action – with every element of the new system dependent on rules that s

A small town in Quebec has become the first municipality in Canada to formally recognise trees as living beings with rights of their own. The council of Terrasse-Vaudreuil, west of Montreal, unanimously adopted a resolution declaring that trees are entitled to protection, including rights to life, n

A US police department has retired a security robot less than a year after deploying it in a public parking garage after it failed to make any arrests or issue a single citation. Police in Dublin, Ohio, introduced the Knightscope K5 robot, known as “DubBot”, to patrol the Rock Cress Park

A council worker who embezzled thousands of pounds in public funds earmarked to support vulnerable people has been sentenced. Nadine McAleney, 34, stole £27,000 from East Renfrewshire’s Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) between April 2019 and November 2020.

First Minister John Swinney has called for a new approach to reduce deaths and harms from drugs and alcohol. It comes as a new Alcohol and Drugs Fund, which will provide £36.9 million to frontline services and organisations working with people affected by alcohol and drugs, is launched. 

A number of rape convictions are being reviewed after a police detective was suspended over allegations that he used AI to generate evidence and case documents in a way designed to secure desired outcomes. The officer, from Derbyshire Police, has been removed from frontline duties and is the subject

The number of company insolvencies registered in Scotland fell by a quarter in May compared with the same month last year, according to the latest figures published by the Insolvency Service.

The families of those killed in the RAF Chinook crash on the Mull of Kintyre in 1994 have secured a court hearing in their bid for judicial review. The hearing, now scheduled for July 14 at the High Court in London, will consider whether the families' application should proceed.

Practitioners will be all too familiar with the Law Society of Scotland’s ‘Standards of Conduct’, especially when it comes to the obligations owed to clients so as not to bring yourself and, indeed, the wider profession into disrepute, writes Thomas Mitchell. However, in my own fir

The new lord advocate and solicitor general were sworn in by the Lord Justice General, Lord Pentland, at Parliament House on Friday. Ruth Charteris KC is now lord advocate and Brian J Gill KC is solicitor general.