News

True crime fans in for a treat as the detective who brought Peter Tobin to justice hosts a stage show in Dundee next month.

Stuart McWilliams discusses the upcoming increases in UK visa fees, the impact on applicants and employers, and suggests strategies to minimise the financial burden of these changes. They say the only certain things in life are death and taxes, but most immigration lawyers will tell you that rising

Litter-picking volunteers unexpectedly discovered a package containing a kilogram of cocaine worth up to £100,000 while cleaning a Cornwall beach. The wrapped package was found by volunteer beach cleaners taking part in an event organised by the 2 Minute Foundation last weekend.

The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service is now in a position to start engaging with solicitor firms who wish to use the application programme interface (API) service for simple procedure claims. The service allows for bulk submissions of claims and would benefit those that do high volume simple pr

The Legal Services Board (LSB) has announced plans to review the enforcement and investigative tools available to the legal services regulators, including the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA). This could include increasing financial penalties available to regulators, as well as enabling regulat

Collected property taxes in Scotland have risen almost 50 per cent in the past two years, according to recent analysis. Property firm DJ Alexander Ltd reports that revenues from the Scottish government’s Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) in June 2023 stood at £61.7 million from 8

The Scottish Law Agents’ Society has responded to Holyrood's consultation on the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Bill. A condensed version of the response is reproduced below. We are deeply uneasy about why the Scottish government feels that it is desirable, appropriate or necessary to

The City of Edinburgh Council has decided not to appeal a Court of Session ruling that found its short-term lets (STL) licensing policy to be unlawful.

The Scottish government has launched a consultation on draft regulations transferring certain appeal functions of the Transport Tribunal and allocating new appeal functions relating to bus services improvement partnerships to the Upper Tribunal for Scotland. The consultation on draft regulations per

The Flexible Working Bill will likely see more employees become aware of the right to make flexible working requests and the volume of these requests will increase, Laura Salmond suggests. On 29 July 2023, the Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Bill received Royal Assent. These amendments

A new BBC podcast series uncovers what really happened when the Leonardo da Vinci painting, The Madonna of the Yarnwinder, was spectacularly taken from Drumlanrig Castle in Dumfries and Galloway in 2003. The Missing Madonna, which is available from 25 August on BBC Sounds, marks the 20th anniversary

A career criminal who acted as a “wages” paymaster to elite gangland figures and their families has been jailed for four years and eight months. Surveillance officers watched Gerard McTaggart, 47, of Glasgow, delivering bags containing thousands of pounds in cash to several locations lin

A notorious Italian mobster has been apprehended after being spotted in a photo of celebrating S.S.C. Napoli football fans in Greece. Vincenzo La Porta, 60, fled Italy 11 years ago and was sentenced in absentia to 14 years' imprisonment in connection with organised crime, tax evasion and fraud offen

Shepherd and Wedderburn has reported seven per cent turnover growth to £66.7 million in the year to 30 April 2023, the sixth year of consecutive growth. Net profits (before partner distributions) grew three per cent to £27.1 million. The firm also announced that an exceptional bonus of f

Pictured (L-R): Emma Gray, Ryan McKay and Fiona Muirs Fiona Muirs has joined Blackadders LLP.