News

Scotland's legal aid crisis looks like it could be "unsolvable" as more than a third of legal aid lawyers are set to retire in the next decade. There are currently 911 solicitors registered for legal aid – down from 1,084 in 2020, a drop of 16 per cent.

An independent commission is needed to improve integrity and effectiveness and tackle serious issues with honesty in the legal system, an expert investigating the Post Office scandal has said. Lawyers are aiding irresponsible decisions and there is abuse of confidentiality and legal professional pri

Denmark's welfare authority risks discriminating against people with disabilities, low-income individuals, migrants, refugees, and marginalised racial groups through its use of AI tools to flag individuals for social benefits fraud investigations, Amnesty International has said in a new report. 

Westwater Advocates’ David Hay KC has successfully challenged needs assessments undertaken by Western Isles Council, under the Social Work (Scotland) Act 1968, as being inadequately reasoned in judicial review proceedings in the Outer House of the Court of Session. Mr Hay appeared for the peti

The High Court in London has begun hearing a legal challenge to the UK government's continued arms sales to Israel. The Global Legal Action Network (GLAN) and Palestinian human rights organisation Al-Haq originally brought the challenge against all weapons exports to Israel for use in Gaza.

Requirements for voter identification brought in by the previous UK government should be scrapped, the parliamentary business minister Jamie Hepburn has said. Mr Hepburn highlighted evidence from the Electoral Commission that the new requirements kept potential voters away from the ballot box at the

Macleod & MacCallum, based in Inverness and Portree, won two awards last week. The first win came at the Inverness City Centre Business Awards which took place on 14 November, with the firm winning the Professional & Business Services Award.  

A man was caught allegedly trying to smuggle hundreds of tarantulas onto a plane. The 28-year-old suspect, who has not been named, was arrested at an airport in Peru after security officials noticed an unusual bulge around his stomach.

Aberdein Considine has been named Debt Recovery Team of the Year at The Herald’s Law Awards of Scotland 2024. The awards, which took place on Friday, celebrate the influential figures and firms in the Scottish legal sector.  

Dear Editor, Dr Angus Campbell’s class in American Constitutional Law was the first honours subject I studied at Aberdeen. Having barely attained the pass mark of 9 out of 20 in my first- and second-year subjects (and sometimes even a 9 was beyond me), Dr Campbell’s class – which h

A University of Dundee academic is calling for ‘less talk and more action’ from COP29. Dr Nandan Mukherjee, of the University’s UNESCO Centre for Water Law, Policy and Science, wants to see real action taking place this year through tangible initiatives such as climate resilient ho

It's that time of year when Santa Claus finds himself facing the full force of the law. The case of ‘The Elvish Advocate v Santa Claus’ will see the International Christmas Court being convened in the Laigh Hall at Parliament House to address various allegations of festive wrongdoing.

This year’s Faculty Christmas Collection, which raises funds for vulnerable families in Fife, is now open for donations. It was founded and has been run for the past nine years by Maria Maguire KC. “We are still going strong,” she said. “The money we raise is really making a

Tickets are still available for a talk on the human rights of elderly people and adults with incapacity. It will take place in the newly refurbished SSC Lounge in Edinburgh on 21 November 6pm Adrian Ward and Sarah Prentice attended the World Congress on Adult Capacity in Buenos Aires Argentina in Au

A former foster carer who subjected three vulnerable children to a campaign of abuse over the course of almost 20 years has been sentenced.  Angela Hassan, formerly Deeney, was found guilty of three charges following a trial at Hamilton Sheriff Court on 15 October 2024. The 78-year-old, from Mo