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The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) has lodged a first notice to begin the court process for a fatal accident inquiry into the death of Robert McPaul. Mr McPaul, aged 70, died in Sir Gabriel Wood’s Mariners’ Home, Greenock on 30 March 2018 after choking on food that wa

The UK’s first union branch specifically for judges has elected its union officers and committee. Members of the GMB met on Tuesday 27 June and filled all vacant posts.

A man has been jailed for more than six years over his green energy ponzi scheme, which claimed to transform cow manure into energy, defrauding investors of over $8.7 million (£6.9m). From March 2014 through December 2019, Ray Brewer stole the $8,750,000 from investors by claiming to build ana

A human geography student at the James Hutton Institute and the University of Aberdeen has won the Scottish Land Commission’s National Student Award for 2023. PhD student Roz Corbett will use the £1,000 grant award to undertake stakeholder participation research into her doctoral thesis

France has passed a law compelling social media platforms such as TikTok to authenticate users' ages and gain parental approval for those under 15, as part of its effort to safeguard children online. Digital transition minister Jean-Noel Barrot told lawmakers that this "landmark" legislation would b

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) has lodged a first notice to begin the court process for a discretionary fatal accident inquiry into the death of 59-year-old Graham Anderson. Mr Anderson died following a heart attack in his office at Calachem Ltd, Grangemouth on 1 May 2020.

Freeths has expanded into Scotland with the opening of a new office in Glasgow and the appointment of two partners, its first base outside of England. The newly appointed partners, Paul Ockrim and Nick Taylor, formerly of Addleshaw Goddard, will lead the Scottish venture, headquartered at Atlantic Q

Morton Fraser has reported its highest-ever annual revenue, of £25.7 million, an increase of eight per cent year on year, and an increase of 25 per cent over the last two years. A bonus of six per cent of annual salary has been announced and, as in previous years, this will be paid to all staf

Darren Murdoch has been elected as the new president of the Scottish Law Agents Society. The society elected Mr Murdoch, of Waddell and Mackintosh, Troon, to the office at its annual general meeting and thanked outgoing president, John Stirling, for his years of service during times made especially

Solicitors have voted to approve an increase to the practising certificate (PC) fee. A resolution on the recommended fee for 2023/24 was passed at the Law Society’s annual general meeting, with a PC fee of £731.25 confirmed.

A man who was convicted of assaulting another man with his own machete in a struggle outside his flat has lost an appeal against the conviction in the High Court of Justiciary. Counsel for appellant Ryan Platt argued that the trial judge had misdirected the jury in telling them that the defence main

The senior lawyer for the public inquiry into hospitals in Scotland has resigned. Counsel to the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry Alastair Duncan KC left his role on Friday along with junior Victoria Arnott. Both are members of Axiom Advocates.

Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain KC has made a reference to the High Court of Justiciary in a bid to expand the evidential value of 'distress' in rape cases. A seven-judge panel will decide whether or not to overturn the 1997 case of Smith v Lees, in which a bench of five decided that the distress of a co

Around 30 kilograms of a suspicious white powder rained down on the French countryside after a tourist plane was intercepted by a fighter jet. The fighter jet was dramatically mobilised after the plane entered restricted airspace in the vicinity of a nuclear power plant, CBS reports.

North Koreans risk capital punishment for imitating South Korean accents and phrases following the introduction of a new law to combat South Korea's growing linguistic influence on its communist neighbour. The Pyongyang Cultural Language Protection Act seeks to "purify" the Korean dialect.