News

Responding to the Scottish government’s draft budget for 2016-17, announced yesterday, Christine McLintock, president of the Law Society of Scotland said the budget set for legal aid – £126.1 million – is “clearly unrealistic” and risks serious damage to justice in the long term. Speaking

Stating a date rather than setting a time limit could help avoid mistakes in requests for permission to appeal decisions of the Scottish tribunals, the Faculty of Advocates has suggested. The Scottish government has proposed in draft regulations a time limit of 30 days to submit an application.

The Scottish Parliament has launched a legal bid against independence supporters who have set up camp on the grounds of Holyrood making calls for another referendum. The Parliament lodged the petition at the Court of Session yesterday in an attempt to recover the land occupied by campers after they

The House of Lords would not be able to block legislation under proposals to limit peers' powers after they rejected plans to cut tax credits. The Prime Minister, David Cameron, commissioned a review by Lord Strathclyde that recommends the House of Commons be given the final decision over secondary

Violent crime in Scotland has gone up after declining for a number of years. The latest police statistics show a small rise in “group one offences”, including robberies and serious assaults in the first half of 2015/16.

Jackie McRae The head of Pagan Osborne’s Family Law team, Jackie McRae, has reinforced her position as a leading authority in the field after receiving specialist accreditation from the Law Society of Scotland in family law.

Local solicitor Lisa Mannion has helped to give a food bank a much-needed boost over the festive period.

Michael Falter (left) and Andrew Leaitherland DWF has announced that it is to acquire German international commercial law firm BridgehouseLaw on 1st January 2016.

US presidential candidate Donald Trump's company has lost its attempt to prevent the construction of a wind farm in Aberdeenshire after judges in the Supreme Court unanimously dismissed the appeal on the basis it misapplied the Electricity Act 1989 and that the consent granted by Scottish Ministers

A man convicted of possessing a handgun and assaulting two police officers has failed in his appeal to the Supreme Court which acted in its capacity as a court for determining compatibility issues. President of the Supreme Court, Lord Neuberger, sitting with Deputy President Lady Hale, Lord Sumption

Lady Smith The Advocate General for Scotland has successfully challenged an Employment Appeal Tribunal decision that a solicitor who worked part-time as a clerk to the General Commissioners of Income Tax was entitled to a pension.

Ministers have been urged by the Faculty of Advocates to wait at least five years to see the impact of same sex marriages before considering further changes to the law on civil partnerships. The Faculty said that it felt the “pace of change may be too fast” and that time was needed to take stock

A librarian has won a court battle over a threat to remove the private papers of the UK's last Communist Party MP from her control after a sheriff ruled she should be custodian. Audrey Canning, 79, has run the Willie Gallacher Memorial Library for nearly four decades.

The Scottish Sentencing Council’s inaugural meeting was held in Parliament House on 14 December when members laid the ground for future work, including an agreement to fully consult on sentencing guidelines. The council is obligated to consult Scottish ministers and the Lord Advocate when preparin

Morton Fraser has appointed Savita Sharma as a consultant and Marisa Cullen as an associate in its family law team in Edinburgh and Glasgow respectively. Ms Sharma (pictured right) is dual qualified and practised in England for over ten years before taking her position at Morton Fraser.