News

The Faculty of Advocates has established a new committee to help promote the profile of Scotland’s legal system internationally. Alistair Clark QC, is to chair the International Committee which will add to the efforts of the Faculty to showcase the best the country has to offer.

From left: Robert Carr, Natalie McCartney, Judy Williamson and Gary Burton

One of the most outspoken and respected judges in the US has contributed a major essay to our Annual Review 2015 to be published this month. New York judge Jed Rakoff (pictured) examines the development of plea bargaining in a timely reminder of the dangers of the triumph of populism over principle

The former lord chief justice of England and Wales has said cartoonists should avoid offending Muslims. Lord Woolf (pictured) warned against the consequences of offending Muslims when he said: “By now it must surely be appreciated that depicting the prophet in a derogatory way will case grave offe

Following the news that criminals are continuing to be jailed for mere weeks despite the introduction of legislation that was intended to end prison sentences of less than three months, a solicitor advocate has attributed this to regional differences in how offenders are handled. As The Herald repor

A survey designed to give salaried members of the judiciary in Scotland the opportunity to provide feedback on their views and experiences of serving as a judge has found that almost all judges who have been in their post for at least 5 years (82 per cent) feel working conditions are worse now than

A mother who was convicted of assault after grabbing hold of and shouting at a schoolboy involved in a play-fight with her son has had her conviction overturned by appeal judges. The woman was convicted after trial in a Justice of the Peace Court of seizing hold of the six-year-old boy by the collar

A juror has been found guilty of contempt of court and fined £400 after he told a judge he forgot to turn up at Perth Sheriff Court. Jordan Hutchison slowed two trials at the court and inconvenienced over 70 members of the public as well as court staff.

A police force has been forced to apologise after an officer told a newsagent to give him the names of four people who bought copies of the commemorative edition of the Charlie Hebdo magazine. Wiltshire Police said it has now deleted the names of the buyers – collected after police told newsagents

Burness Paull has won a competitive tender process to become the sole provider of legal services in Scotland for the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). Following a rigorous three-month tender process involving three core stages, the firm has seen off competition to secure the three-year

Sending children to prison may make them more likely to commit sexual offences in adulthood according to a study set up by a charity which seeks to reduce crime. The study by the Commission on Sex in Prison, a group established Howard League for Penal Reform reached its conclusion after hearing evid

The organisation representing rank-and-file police officers has accused politicians of ignorance in relation to non-statutory stop and searches. The Scottish Police Federation (SPF) has attacked politicians as well as Police Scotland’s leadership over plans to remove the police’s right to search

As consultations on land reform draw to an end Robert Scott-Dempster (pictured) discusses how any new measures must comply with the ECHR. Whilst it may feel to the average land owner that there is an inexorable wave of land reform coming in their direction it should not be forgotten that theEuropean

Scottish government proposals for land reform need to be coherent, clear and workable, the Law Society of Scotland has said. The Law Society has submitted its response to the Scottish government’s consultation on the future of land reform in Scotland.

The rights of over 1,000 UK prisoners were breached when they were disallowed from voting in elections judges in the European Court of Human Rights have ruled after inmates who were prevented from voting during elections between 2009 and 2011 brought a case to the Strasbourg court. In today's judgme