News

A rape complainant in Italy suffered a violation of her ECHR rights after she was re-victimised in court. In its judgment in the case of J.L. v. Italy, the European Court of Human Rights held, by six votes to one, that there had been a violation of Article 8 (right to respect for private life and pe

The UK has imposed its first asset freezes and travel bans under a new sanctions regime targeted at individuals and entities suspected of corruption and bribery overseas, writes Tom Stocker. The first list of those targeted by the 2021 Global Anti-Corruption Sanctions Regulations includes 22 individ

Chiara Pieri has been elected president of the Scottish Young Lawyers’ Association following its AGM yesterday. Miss Pieri, a solicitor with Shepherd and Wedderburn, has spent the last two years as vice president of the association.

Lawmakers around the world should include “sunset clauses” in legislation to ensure Covid-19 health status certificates are only used during the pandemic, a new study says. Safeguards should be in place to guarantee against the risks posed to people’s privacy and human rights by ne

A campaign has been launched calling on Edinburgh Council to commission a memorial for Derek Ogg QC, who passed away last May at the age of 65. The petition has been created by Scott Glanville and urges the council to "fund and commission a memorial to honour the memory of Derek Ogg".

Temporary measures to protect people experiencing homelessness from Covid-19 have been extended for three months. The public health measures allow local authorities to use hotels and B&Bs to accommodate people experiencing homelessness and to keep them safe during the pandemic. They were due to

Emergency services have pleaded with members of the public to stop reporting the sound of periodical cicadas re-emerging after 17 years underground in order to mate. Officials in the US state of Georgia have received multiple reports of "alarms" that turned out to be the songs of the Brood X cicadas

A sheriff in Edinburgh has found that two children of a divorcing couple should be moved from their English private school to a Scottish state school after she refused to make either party liable for their children’s school fees. The parties, who remained anonymous, were married in Scotland in

The Scottish Law Commission today has published a discussion paper on updating the mental element in homicide. The crimes of murder and culpable homicide are generally regarded as the most serious of all crimes in Scots law, in terms of gravity and impact on victims and their families.

An eminent Scottish solicitor, who was instrumental in establishing the independence of Malawi, will be awarded honorary life membership of the Law Society of Scotland later today. Colin Cameron graduated in law from the University of Glasgow in 1957 and moved to what was then known as Nyasaland tha

Drummond Miller LLP has announced a number of senior promotions across the firm’s practice areas and offices, including the assumption of three new partners: Sharon Fleming in private client; Sarah Jack in immigration; and Ailsa Meiklejohn in conveyancing and property.

Usman Tariq and Dean of Faculty, Roddy Dunlop QC, were counsel in a high-profile intellectual property dispute concerning lookalike products sold by supermarkets. They acted together with Burness Paull LLP for William Grant & Sons, the owner of the famous Hendrick’s Gin, in proceeding

David Coutts has been appointed the head of Simpson & Marwick's new family law department. The Edinburgh-based lawyer joins from Turcan Connell where he was head of their Glasgow team. Before this, he qualified and spent eight years at Anderson Strathern.

An oil giant has been ordered to cut its global carbon emissions in a landmark ruling involving 17,000 co-plaintiffs. Royal Dutch Shell was ordered by a court in The Hague to lower its emissions by 45 per cent by the end of 2030 as compared with 2019 levels in a case brought by Friends of the Earth.

A £500,000 fund will help places of worship to take security measures against hate crime. Faith communities can apply for grants from the Hate Crime Security Fund, developed by the Scottish government in partnership with Police Scotland.