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Ayrshire potatoes have been granted special status under EU rules to protect them from imitation. The potatoes join a list of Scottish products including Stornoway Black Pudding, Scotch whisky and Scottish salmon which also enjoy protected geographic indication (PGI) status.

More than 200 landlords have flouted a law intended to protect tenants' deposits in the past 18 months. SafeDeposits Scotland, a government-approved scheme, looked at decisions of the Housing and Property Chamber First-tier Tribunal, finding that around £186,657 had been paid out to tenants be

After almost a decade of constant change, the evolution of the Scottish liability claims landscape shows no signs of slowing down, according to Clyde & Co's annual Scottish Liability Conference in Glasgow. The conference explored liability issues affecting UK insurers and their insureds. Chaired

ICO's second GDPR fine in as many days highlights the importance of due diligence in acquisitions, writes Val Surgenor. Hot on the heels of the proposed British Airways fine, the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) this week issued notice of its intention to serve a penalty notice (a fine)

A rule mandating that police officers have degrees could remove 4,000 recruits from the front line, one force has claimed as it seeks judicial review of the policy. Lincolnshire Police is challenging the College of Policing’s demand that new recruits have a degree, three-year apprenticeship or

Accountant Iain Masterton outlines key changes to VAT rules, details why they’ve been introduced and reveals what building contractors must do to ensure they are compliant. Forthcoming legislation changes could have a major impact on any building contractor business which is registered for VAT

Newly called advocate Megan Dewart, of Axiom Advocates, and her baby son are pictured here in Parliament Hall with Vice Dean of Faculty, Angela Grahame QC, who officiated at the calling ceremony. Ms Grahame said: "We may look old fashioned in our wigs and gowns, but don’t be fo

More than half of young judges are now women, according to official figures. The number of female court judges increased last year by three per cent to almost a third of the total. But the proportion of female tribunal judges remained unchanged at 46 per cent, The Times reports.

A round-up of human rights stories from around the world. Turkey should protect human rights defenders and end judicial arbitrariness | Council of Europe

A judge writing about breach of fiduciary duty said in his judgment that the court would not render an earlier case meaningless – as Game of Thrones did the Night King. Judge John B. Owens of the US Court of Appeals 9th Circuit, a disgruntled fan of the blockbuster series, wrote: "We will not

A police officer found guilty of sexual offences whose application to retire on the grounds of permanent disablement was refused by the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) has had a legal challenge against the decision dismissed. The officer raised judicial review proceedings after the SPA dec

Almost a third of all applications ever made to the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC) were lodged by people convicted of sex crimes, a new report shows. The SCCRC is a public body established in 1999 that reviews alleged miscarriages of justice in relation to convictio

The use of Glasgow Airport in the rendition of a man whose torture in Egypt led to the false information which provided part of the case for the Iraq War has been revealed in a new report on the CIA's network of black sites around the world. A new report presents, for the first time, a com

The head of a group representing Scotland's private care providers has joined calls for new hate crime laws to protect the elderly. The call comes as the Scottish government considers expanding hate crime laws to encompass a victim's age, among other things, as an aggravating factor, following a rev

Pinsent Masons has seen a seven per cent rise in global turnover and a slump in profit per equity partner (PEP). Unaudited figures for the year to 30 April, show gross profit increased by 2.5 per cent to £192.4 million while PEP fell for the first time in six years by five per cent from £