News

Prosecutors have successfully challenged a decision of a trial judge to uphold a defence submission of “no case to answer” in the case of a man accused of an attempted armed robbery at a bank. The Criminal Appeal Court allowed the appeal by the&nbs

A lawyer accused of having sex with an underage girl who claims she was also ordered to have sex with the Duke of York has rebutted the claims, calling them "salacious and scurrilous", and has requested his name be removed from the accusatory documents. Alan Dershowitz, 76, has said he can prove he

A man has avoided jail by using his trainers as bail bond in lieu of money. Judge Douglas Stoddart at a district court in Massachusetts accepted the deposit after he offered Jason Duval, who was charged with drug offences, the opportunity to “be creative”.

Following on from yesterday’s news that Inksters Solicitors has been ranked third in the UK for the quality of its Twitter account, the firm has now been shortlisted for the “most innovative use of social media” award at the 2015 Managing Partner Forum Awards for Management Excellence, in asso

Edinburgh Tax Network & TrustBar Seminar

The Law Society of Scotland’s new three-year equality strategy aims to improve equality in the legal profession and support solicitors as they progress through their careers. Published today, the new strategy builds on the work of the Society’s equality and diversity work over the past decade an

Research covering 5,000 law firms across the UK has found that 55 per cent of respondents see improving profitability as the biggest challenge of 2015, The Lawyer reports. In response to the question of the level of growth expected, 43 per cent of those questioned said they expected increases of bet

Perthshire property bosses are reflecting on ‘a year of stability’ in the local market, and predicting a similar theme to 2015. Recently collated statistics from Perthshire Solicitors Property Centre (PSPC) reveal that 2014 was a strong and steady year for the local market, and a year which perf

A planned new regulator of the UK’s oil and gas reserves could face conflicts of interest in its work and “robust” measures will be needed to eliminate the risk, according to the Faculty of Advocates. Proposals for setting up the Oil and Gas Authority (OGA), with headquarters in Aberdeen, have

A number of new sheriffs have been appointed in Tayside, Central and Fife. Gillian Anne Wade QC (pictured right) and Simon Geoffrey Collins QC have been appointed as floating sheriffs of Tayside, Central and Fife.

Scottish ministers have been warned by lawyers to be careful over moves to make it incumbent on social care and medical staff to disclose medical blunders to patients. The Scottish government is proposing a statutory “duty of candour” but the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has war

A landlord who was forced to go to the Inner House of the Court of Session to defend his property rights has been awarded expenses from the Lord Advocate after judges ruled that he had been “unavoidably drawn” into a “costly and prolonged litigation”. The motion for expenses against the Lord

A body comprising Scottish lawyers, family consultants and financial specialists has found that businesses in Scotland are suffering as a result of divorce and separation. Consensus Collaboration Scotland (Consensus), offer couples a non-confrontational way of agreeing the legal and practical arrang

Two new commissioners were recently appointed to the Scottish Law Commission (SLC). The SLC was established under the Law Commissions Act 1965 for the purposes of promoting the reform of the law of Scotland, and reviewing the law with a view to its systematic development and modernisation.

Sheriff Graham Cox has died aged 81. Sheriff Cox was born in Newcastle in December 1933 and was brought up in Cambuslang until he moved to Dundee at the age of 15.