News

A man who was jailed for four months after being found guilty of hare coursing has successfully appealed against his sentence. The Sheriff Appeal Court allowed the appeal after ruling that the sheriff ought to have imposed a “substantial fine” as an alternative to custody.

Christian Åhlund The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) has highlighted a number of areas of concern in its latest report on the UK, including gaps in the UK-wide Public Order Act 1986 and the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and recommends the introduction of offences committed o

Dr Hannah Graham The Scottish government is to continue to expand the use of electronic tags, Justice Secretary Michael Matheson announced today.

The Defense Secretary Michael Fallon (pictured right) will today announce plans to allow parts of the European Convention on Human Rights to be suspended during military conflicts. Ahead of his speech at the Conservative Party conference, Mr Fallon claimed the legal system had “been abused”.

The unfair trial application of a convicted paedophile has been dismissed as "manifestly ill-founded" by the European Court of Human Rights as it vindicated the findings of the English Court of Appeal that the jury in his trial was impartial. The applicant, Shabir Ahmed, is a British national who wa

Morton Fraser has enhanced its intellectual property (IP) expertise with the appointment of Dr Julie Nixon (pictured right) as a senior solicitor in its corporate team. Dr Nixon's appointment sees Morton Fraser become Scotland’s only law firm to have two IP lawyers with PhDs. She joins Dr Peter Ga

Murray Souter

Graham Millar

It will no longer be necessary to have a law degree in order to qualify as a solicitor under plans being pushed by regulators. The Solicitors Regulation Authority’s new scheme would see a single new entrance exam for everyone wishing to enter the profession.

A special Saturday sitting at Edinburgh Sheriff Court will help local school pupils learn about the Scottish justice system. The teenagers from eight schools across the capital are taking part in a MiniTrials event, an initiative developed by the Faculty of Advocates to demystify the law and show wh

A council house tenant who challenged an occupancy agreement after falling into arrears, on the grounds that the local authority failed to consider her ability to pay the rent, has had her petition dismissed. A judge in the Court of Session rejected the challenge after ruling that the petition was b

Lord Carloway The Lord President has been called on to give evidence to a Holyrood committee on whether judges should disclose their financial interests in a judicial register.

Elizabeth Denham The UK's newly-installed information commissioner, Elizabeth Denham, has called for the UK to implement upcoming EU data protection laws in spite of the Brexit vote.

Lucy Metcalf

A solicitor has been given a dressing down by a sheriff after snubbing her demand to attend court last week. Mike Allan, a lawyer in Aberdeen, was summoned to Inverness Sheriff Courtby Sheriff Margaret Neilson on Friday, The Press and Journal reports.