News

Charities embarking on increasingly expansive ways to raise money are being urged to ensure that trading does not trigger unexpected tax bills – or stray on to the wrong side of the law. Amid rising costs, including National Insurance contributions, tightening public sector funding and a downt

CMS has announced the appointment of three new partners in Scotland. The trio includes Robbie Somerville, a Glasgow-based lawyer within CMS’s corporate team, and his Edinburgh colleague Rory Thomson from the firm’s insurance and reinsurance group.

A bill designed to create jobs and drive economic growth across Scotland by promoting investment in communities has been published. The Community Wealth Building Bill is the first of its kind "in the world" and would require councils, National Health Service boards and other public bodies to take fo

A man who claimed he needed a £26,000 per year meal allowance as part of his divorce settlement from his multimillionaire wife because he cannot even make an omelette has been instructed by a judge to learn how to cook. Mr Justice Francis in the High Court told Simon Entwistle, a City trader,

A video game company is facing EU enforcement action for allegedly pressuring children to buy virtual currency. The enforcement action taken by the Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Network and co-ordinated by the European Commission follows a complaint to a Swedish watchdog concerning the game

The Trump administration is facing legal action after publishing sensitive personal information about hundreds of people involved in investigating the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy. Newly-declassified files include the unredacted social security numbers of hundreds of congressional staffers,

Sheriff Wendy Sheehan has stepped down as president of the Sheriffs and Summary Sheriffs Association (SSSA) following an unprecedented two terms in the role. Sheriff Sheehan, who was the first female president of the association, stepped down at its AGM in Edinburgh on 15 March. She will be succeede

A framework approach to legislation should only be used in very limited circumstances, according to Holyrood’s Delegated Powers and Law Reform committee. In a new report, the committee said that draft legislation in the Scottish Parliament should generally set out a high degree of detail on th

Greenpeace has been ordered to pay $660 million in damages to an oil and gas company following US legal proceedings that the environmental group has described as a "meritless SLAPP". Texas-based company Energy Transfer accused Greenpeace of defamation and orchestrating criminal behaviour in relation

A French denier of the Holocaust who had been on the run for two years in Scotland has been jailed. Vincent Reynouard, 56, was arrested in Anstruther, in Fife in November 2022 before being extradited to France, where he has now been convicted.

A judge has drawn criticism from his colleagues after filming a video of him loading several guns in his judicial chambers which he then attached to a dissenting judgment. The nearly 20-minute long video was posted to YouTube by the American judge as he dissented from a ruling upholding a California

The Faculty of Advocates has joined international condemnation of the Trump administration's attacks on lawyers in the US and internationally. A joint statement issued this week says US sanctions on International Criminal Court (ICC) personnel and their families "constitute a violation of internatio

The Scottish Sentencing Council has published a new literature review examining the sentencing of firearms offences in Scotland. The review commissioned by the council was conducted by expert academics from the Universities of Glasgow and Edinburgh, alongside researchers from the Sentencing Academy.

A round-up of human rights stories from around the world. World leaders express outrage at Israel’s renewed bombing of Gaza civilians

Protestors charged with non-violent offences should be able to explain their motives in court as part of their legal defence, new research argues. A new study from the University of Birmingham, Aston University and Keele University has argued that trials should "respect the integrity of publicly acc