News

Justice Secretary Angela Constance has pledged to explore “transitional arrangements” to prevent prosecutors from dropping thousands of criminal cases as statutory time-bar limits revert to pre-pandemic levels later this year. With Scotland’s criminal justice system already under p

A legal aid application for the private prosecution of footballer David Goodwillie for rape has been approved by the Scottish government. In 2017 a sheriff in a civil case found that Mr Goodwillie and former teammate David Robertson raped Denise Clair.

Strathclyde University has won this year's Lord Jones Moot Competition. The competition is named in memory of University of Dundee Law School alumnus Lord Jones, who was instrumental in its founding and judged the final in 2016.

A sex offender who travelled to Scotland to rape a child after messaging her on Snapchat has been given an order for lifelong restriction. Wayne Phillipson was found guilty of attacking the victim following a trial at the High Court in Livingston in August 2024. The 48-year-old, from Durham, sent th

The Revitalising Trusts project, a collaboration between The Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) and Foundation Scotland, has been working with legal teams to release dormant charitable funds for public benefit. Over 300 inactive charitable trusts of varying sizes and purposes have been identified to

Macdonald Henderson has again topped the legal adviser rankings in Scotland with 44 deals, the latest Experian M&A report shows.

A coroner's finding that the 1992 shooting by British soldiers of four Provisional IRA men at Clonoe Chapel was not justified has been referred to prosecutors. Mr Justice Michael Humphreys ruled earlier this month that the soldiers, who belonged to a specialist military unit (SMU), held no honest be

A new independent commission has been established to review sentencing and penal policy and identify the most effective ways to address offending behaviour to help reduce crime and lower the number of victims. The Sentencing and Penal Policy Commission will be chaired by Martyn Evans, former chair o

Legislative proposals to help restore nature and protect biodiversity in Scotland have been introduced to Parliament. The Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill, which will now be considered by MSPs, would place a duty on ministers to set legally-binding nature restoration targets and aims to modernise

The Crown Office has lodged a first notice to begin the court process for a fatal accident inquiry (FAI) into the death of Thomas Hein. The 25-year-old German national, an HGV driver for Josef Schnell, died on the A74(M) Glasgow to Carlisle Road near Moffat, around Junction 15, in the afternoon of F

Celebrities A$AP Rocky and Rihanna have promised to name their next child after the lawyer who successfully defended the award-winning rapper on assault charges. A jury in Los Angeles this week found the rapper, legally named Rakim Mayers, not guilty of firing a semi-automatic weapon at a former fri

A senior UK government minister was told by the English solicitors' regulator to stop describing himself as a former solicitor when he had in fact dropped out of his traineeship to become an MP. The Solicitors' Regulatory Authority (SRA) wrote to the business secretary Jonathan Reynolds in January i

A round-up of human rights stories from around the world. I’ve never seen a more worrying moment, says European human rights chief

A conference to commemorate the life, work and career of Professor Alan Boyle will be held next month in Edinburgh. Professor Boyle was professor of public international law at the University of Edinburgh between 1995 and 2017. During this time, he made an immense contribution to the scholarly life

Two metal detectorists have unearthed a hoard of 15th century coins in the Scottish Borders. Keith Young and Lisa Stephenson discovered 30 gold and silver coins in close proximity dating to the 15th Century in the Cappercleuch area of the Borders.