News

A policeman who refused to shave his beard has been awarded £10,000 by an employment tribunal. Constable Gordon Downey had been transferred from an armed response unit after refusing to abide by a policy that officers be clean-shaven.

A legal action seeking a court order to force the Prime Minister to write a letter requesting a Brexit extension in the event that no deal has been agreed between the UK and the EU has been dismissed after a judge ruled that it was not required. The Court of Session held that it was unnecessary to g

Global legal business DWF has announced the appointment of senior insurance litigator Lynne Macfarlane as a director in its Scottish insurance practice. Ms Macfarlane joins DWF's insurance team from Clyde and Co, where she has spent the entire 20 years of her legal career. She has extensive experien

Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf has launched a new training resource at the Scottish Crime Campus at Gartcosh aimed at helping local authorities report instances of organised crime.

Lord Tyre led over 100 people on the Edinburgh Legal Walk 2019 yesterday, raising over £5,000 for the Access to Justice Foundation in the process.

Advocate Michael Upton of Hastie Stable examines the issues at the centre of an English court appeal being heard this week. It may seem axiomatic that rights to use or to occupy land must flow - directly or indirectly - from a present or past land-owner. But in the important field of telecoms operat

A new five-track EP has brought together celebrated Scottish songwriters and people with experience of the criminal justice system. Oblivion and Beyond has been released as part of the Distant Voices project, a collaboration between Vox Liminis, the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research and

Richard McMeeken, partner at Morton Fraser, reflects on the benefits of the commercial courts system following its 25th anniversary earlier this year. Specialist courts in Scotland are nothing new. In 1994 Lord Penrose established a commercial court in order to respond to the demands of the business

Lord Carlile, who is leading an independent review of the controversial Prevent counter-terrorism programme, has issued a call for evidence on its operation. The barrister and former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation has previously promised to conduct a “strongly evidence-based&rdq

A hundred possible jurors in the retrial of Hillsborough match commander David Duckenfield have been quizzed on what football team they support. At a hearing in Preston Crown Court yesterday, potential jurors were asked whether they, or close relatives or friends, were supporters of Liverpool, Evert

A team competing in the world checkers championship was held captive in the hotel hosting the tournament because the bill had not been paid. The Dutch checkers team were not allowed to leave the hotel in the Ivory Coast until the bill had been settled, they said on Facebook.

A motorist who was fined and given six penalty points after being convicted of driving without insurance and who claimed there were “special reasons” for her licence not being endorsed has had her appeal dismissed. The complainer, who failed to appear in court on six occasions to argue h

The campaigners in the Court of Session case against Prime Minister Boris Johnson have had their petition refused by Lord Pentland in the Outer House. Dale Vince OBE, Jolyon Maugham QC and Joanna Cherry QC MP had sought to force Mr Johnson to extend Article 50 TEU if he cannot get a Brexit deal pass

Denial of the holocaust is not a human right, the European Court of Human Rights has unanimously ruled. A neo-Nazi politician, Udo Pastörs, who had been convicted in his native Germany after denying the Holocaust in a speech, made a complaint under article 10: freedom of expression.

The UK and the US have signed a bilateral agreement allowing their respective law enforcement agencies to directly demand electronic data relating to serious crime from tech companies in the other jurisdiction. The world-first UK-US Bilateral Data Access Agreement was signed by Home Secretary Priti