News

The Law Society of Scotland has added to its paralegal accreditation programme with a new specialism for paralegals who work in banking and finance. The new certification is the 15th area of law recognised for paralegals and is the second accreditation in financial services as it joins the asset man

Scullion LAW has announced the promotion of Charmaine Trainor and Ailidh Ballantyne.

A programme funded from the seized assets of criminals has supported 15,368 young people in 2023-24. CashBack for Communities delivered £5.5 million to 29 partners in that period for projects that divert young people away from anti-social behaviour and crime.

Lindsays has welcomed Clair Cranston as a senior associate in its family law team. She has started the new role, which will see her work throughout Tayside and across Perthshire, today.

Dundee Law School has become the first in Scotland to establish a module in trauma-informed practice as part of its diploma course. The module will prepare students to support clients seeking legal advice while they are affected by traumatic life events.

A judge has blocked a bid by satirical news website The Onion to buy far-right media platform Infowars. Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was forced to give up the platform he founded in 1999 after declaring bankruptcy shortly after a court ordered him to pay $1.5 billion to the families of victim

Five members of a drugs-trafficking gang who plotted to flood Scotland with almost a tonne of cocaine imported from South America have had Serious Crime Prevention Orders (SCPOs) imposed by the court. Gerard Carbin, 45; James Bilsland, 68; Lloyd Cross, 32; Ryan McPhee, 34 and Paul Bowes, 53, were re

A former solicitor has been sentenced for defrauding the legal aid body south of the border and making substantial gain at the public's expense. Phil Shiner, 67, has been sentenced to two years' imprisonment suspended for two years for three counts of fraud at Southwark Crown Court. He pleaded guilt

A bill to reform and modernise the law relating to judicial factors has been passed. The Judicial Factors (Scotland) Bill aims to bring clarity, accessibility and efficiency to an area of law which largely has not been changed since the 19th century.

A parody musical inspired by Australia's infamous Olympic breakdancer Raygun has been shut down following a threat of legal action. Lawyers for Rachael Gunn – who uses the breakdancing name Raygun – intervened to stop the debut performance of Raygun: The Musical just hours before it was

A senior Caribbean judge has begun taking part in hearings before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (JCPC). Dame Janice M. Pereira, the former chief justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, was invited to sit with the JCPC by Lord Reed – which was made possible by her appoint

The UK has temporarily paused the processing of asylum applications from Syrians following the end of Bashar al-Assad's rule over the country. In line with the approach taken by a number of other European countries, the Home Office said it had "temporarily paused decisions on Syrian asylum claims wh

Clan Childlaw and Together (Scottish Alliance for Children’s Rights) have been awarded funding from the Independent Human Rights Fund for Scotland, managed by the Corra Foundation. A partnership between the two organisations will allow Clan to apply a legal lens to the information gathered thr

Scottish authorities have transferred a section of the aircraft from the Lockerbie bombing to the US ahead of a Libyan suspect’s trial in Washington DC. The transfer forms part of an evidence-sharing agreement between Scottish law enforcement authorities and American counterparts. 

Barriers in accessing justice, including chronic challenges in the legal aid system, are among human rights issues identified by the Scottish Human Rights Commission in a new report presented to the Scottish Parliament. Scotland's human rights watchdog has published its State of the Nation 2024