News

An Australian court has reversed pop singer Katy Perry's triumph over fashion designer Katie Perry in a trademark dispute. Katie Perry initially won when she sued the singer for trademark infringement in 2023 – but the ruling was overturned on appeal in 2024.

Ukraine's top court has dismissed a challenge to a ruling which recognised a same-sex couple as a de facto family. Human rights campaigners have welcomed the outcome in the case, which concerned a Ukrainian diplomat posted to Israel and his partner, a civil society activist.

A petition calling for a ban on Scotland's controversial "guga hunt" is to remain open into the next parliamentary session, MSPs have decided. The Scottish Parliament's Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee yesterday agreed to keep open the petition, which has been signed over 100,000

Scottish academics have contributed to a new collection celebrating women in legal history, launched at Queens’ College, Cambridge. Published by Bloomsbury, Celebrating Women in Legal History: Making and Shaping a Discipline champions the work of women in legal history and their contributions

Prison officials have confirmed the death of a 19-year-old man at the Polmont Young Offenders Institution (YOI). The death will renew scrutiny of the facility a year after a sheriff determined that the deaths in custody of Katie Allan and William Brown in 2018 could have been avoided.

The University of St Andrews has been vindicated in a dispute with its rector, Stella Maris, in a ruling by Lord Keen of Elie KC. Ms Maris will resume her position on the University Court of the University of St Andrews after agreeing to provide an undertaking that she is "bound by collective respon

A teenager who was injured in a crowd crush at Glasgow's TRNSMT Festival has settled a legal action for a four-figure sum. Jessica Gatherer, now 19, sought assistance from Digby Brown Solicitors to bring an action against ESM Operations, G4S and DF Concerts.

The UK's consumer protection watchdog has said it is urgently looking into concerns about heating oil price rises linked to the US-Israeli war on Iran. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it has "heard a number of concerning reports from consumers who rely on heating oil about their exp

Susie Lind, partner in the Edinburgh office of international law firm CMS, has been appointed as chair of Scottish Renewables. Ms Lind – who joined the law firm last November – succeeds Adam Morrison, the UK country manager for Ocean Winds, who served in the role from 2021.

A fatal accident inquiry (FAI) is to take place into the death of a 72-year-old prisoner in HMP Inverness in 2024. The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) has lodged a first notice to begin the court process for an FAI into the death of John Calderwood Gallagher.

A judge has ruled against a couple who tried to reclaim a small area of land by planting a garden gnome on it. The Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) ruled last week on a years-long dispute between neighbours in Surrey.

Lawyers representing families who lost loved ones to the pandemic have criticised the "glacial pace" of the Scottish Covid-19 inquiry after its last set of hearings were postponed to 2027. At a preliminary hearing yesterday, inquiry chairman Lord Brailsford said it "will not be possible" for the inq

Regular contributor and dear friend of our publication, David J Black, has passed away at the age of 78. An obituary published by The Times on Monday recalls Mr Black as a "fearless urban campaigner who saved much of Edinburgh's architectural heritage".

Sex workers have criticised the Scottish government's appointment of a former senior police officer to pave the way for the criminalisation of the purchase of sex in Scotland. Fiona Taylor, a former deputy chief constable of Police Scotland, will lead a new Independent Commission on the Criminalisat

Police Scotland has been fined £66,000 for extracting the entire contents of a person's mobile phone after they reported an alleged crime and then sharing it with a third party who should not have received it. The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) issued the fine and reprimand after find