News

A family dairy company and a housebuilder who challenged a Scottish local authority’s refusal to grant planning permission for a new housing development on green belt land have successfully appealed against the decision. The Inner House of the Court of Session allowed the appeal by&n

Plans to increase the use of pre-recorded evidence in criminal trials have been given the green light by Holyrood’s Justice Committee. The moves are aimed at reducing the stress and trauma of being involved with the legal system for vulnerable victims and witnesses of crime, with an initial fo

Edinburgh Bar Association law firms that sat on the Scottish Legal Aid Board's extradition court duty scheme have withdrawn.

Scottish government ministers have agreed a plan that makes the likelihood of a merger between British Transport Police and Police Scotland even more remote. Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf said last year that the laws to enable to the merger may never be enacted if an alternative proposal were

Legal mental health charity LawCare received its highest ever number of helpline calls from lawyers in 2018 with calls about bullying and harassment nearly doubling. The charity, which runs a helpline for the legal profession offering emotional support, dealt with 932 calls in 2018 from 624 callers,

Italy failed to provide proper legal representation to Amanda Knox, the American woman acquitted in 2015 of killing her British housemate, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled. It ordered the Italian authorities to pay €18,400 in damages and legal costs.

The Herald has published an obituary of David Lessels, emeritus professor of law at Aberdeen University who passed away last month aged 69. "Family came first in his life and when the children were young camping holidays in France were the norm. He encouraged them in all their activities and as a mu

A British human rights activist who escaped a forced marriage, set up a dedicated charity to help victims of honour-based abuse and forced marriage, and helped change the law to make forced marriage a crime was last night named winner of a an award created in honour of the Scots Bard. Campaigner Jas

BLM has become the first law firm to officially sign up to the Inclusive Behaviours in Insurance Pledge, an initiative set up by Lloyd’s of London and Zurich to demonstrate the insurance industry’s commitment to creating a “culture where inclusive behaviours become the norm and whe

A sheriff in Aberdeen has been arrested over alleged sexual misconduct offences. Police Scotland confirmed that Sheriff Jack Brown, 59, had been charged. 

Parents are hiring muscular men at a cost of between $450 and $1,790 a day – to protect their kids from bullies. The "uncles" come in different packages, the basic one provides a man in his 30s or 40s who will reportedly walk with the pupil to and from school while repelling bullies.

Dr Karen Baston looks at a particularly acrimonious legal dispute from the eighteenth century over the use of a garden. In February 1760, advocate Walter Steuart presented a petition to the Court of Session on behalf of his client, John Grieve, a taylor in Potter-row. [1] The petition was part of a

A motorcyclist who was injured after crashing into the back of a car which performed an unnecessary “emergency stop” has been awarded nearly £50,000 damages. A sheriff in the All-Scotland Personal Injury Court ruled that the driver of the vehicle, who braked suddenly beca

A man who was fined for uploading footage to the internet of his dog performing a Nazi salute has failed in a bid to appeal to the Supreme Court. Mark Meechan, 31, was prosecuted following the publication of a video entitled "M8 Yer dug's a Naazi" which featured the dog raising its paw in respo

Burness Paull has won a brief to support the independent body that protects customers of financial firms that have failed. The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS) has appointed eight law firms to form its second legal panel following a rigorous six-month procurement exercise.