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Secret court hearings are in need of reform, a former lord chief justice has said. Lord Thomas of Cwmgiedd said that the single justice procedure (SJP) is unfair.

Health Secretary Neil Gray has said that the level of drug misuse deaths remains “hugely concerning”, as the latest statistics showed an increase of 121 deaths compared with 2022. Figures published by National Records of Scotland found that 1,172 people died due to drug misuse in 2023.

A violent rapist who began abusing three young children when he was just 12-years-old has been jailed. Alasdair Craig was found guilty of all 11 charges – including rape – on July 3 following a trial at the High Court in Kilmarnock.

A man has been jailed for 11 years after trying to murder his lawyer in a knife attack in his office. Muhammad Shoaib, 71, suffered a stab wound to his chest and a wound to his right hand during the violent incident in Glasgow and feared he was about to die.

ESPC has conducted a study into the property market across Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and the Borders, to uncover the locations that buyers move from, and where they most frequently move to. The report looks back at the property market from January 2019 to July 2024, considering where buyers are

Burges Salmon has advised Clean Energy Cap Ltd (CEC), a private-wire renewable energy company, on an investment from True Green Capital Management LLC (TGC), a renewable energy-focused private equity firm. An Edinburgh-based Burges Salmon corporate energy M&A team advised on the transaction, led

A solicitor who embezzled from a Grangemouth law firm has been struck from the roll. Leo McGarvey, 56, was jailed for 10 months at Falkirk Sheriff Court in December 2022 after admitting that he embezzled £7,000 from RGM Solicitors in La Porte Precinct.

The UK's legal services market has grown by more than 12 per cent in the past year, new figures show. Lawyers are on track for a record year after data from the Office of National Statistics indicated that they had recorded their second highest monthly billings on record.

A fugitive accused of murder has been found – working as a police officer. Antonio Riano was wanted for the shooting of Benjamin Becarra, 25, in the US state of Ohio, in 2004.

Aberdein Considine has been recognised with a Princess Royal Training Award for its mortgages induction programme. The firm was commended for its commitment to training and the positive impact this has on both its people and the organisation. The programme is a tailored onboarding, training and deve

An independent human rights expert has called on the UK government to review the sentences of imprisonment for public protection (IPP) prisoners, stressing the need for the remaining IPP prisoners to be resentenced without delay, and for the indeterminate sentence system to be brought to an end. &ld

New initiatives to increase access to residential rehabilitation across Scotland which will be able to support more than 100 residential rehab placements have been introduced. Local Alcohol and Drug Partnerships (ADPs) that are experiencing high demand will be able to access extra funding from the n

A learner driver who caused the death of three teenage passengers by dangerous driving has been sentenced to more than four years' imprisonment. Jake Loy, then 17, was the holder of a provisional driving licence and was not being supervised when he lost control of the black Honda Civic on March 16,

Women in Afghanistan have called on the international community to do more to defend women's rights in the country three years from the Taliban's takeover. Amnesty International conducted a wide-ranging consultation with more than 150 women in Afghanistan and in exile — including lawyers, poli

A town mayor is facing criminal charges after allegedly stashing a bottle of gin in a ditch for inmates. Benjamin "Benji" Cary Cranford, mayor of Thomson, Georgia, is accused of providing a prison work crew from the nearby Jefferson County Correctional Institute with the bottle of Seagram's Extra Dr