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Home Secretary Priti Patel's proposed new UK border laws would breach the UK's obligations under international law, UN experts have said. In a joint statement, five UN special rapporteurs said the Nationality and Borders Bill would "seriously undermine the protection of the human rights of trafficke

A public law and net zero policy development expert has joined Burness Paull. Richard Lockhart was previously general counsel of national infrastructure centre of expertise, Scottish Futures Trust.

Brexit has prompted a record number of trademark applications in the UK, according to new data. There were 195,000 trademarks registered in the UK in the past year, an increase of 54 per cent on the previous year's figure of 127,000.

Thorntons' Loretta Maxfield has been named a certified specialist in data protection by the Law Society of Scotland. Ms Maxfield, who has been with Thorntons since 2005, specialises in IP, data protection and information governance, and is qualified in both Scots and English law.

The Scottish government’s updated procedure for handling formal complaints by civil servants about a minister’s or former minister’s behaviour has been published. The independent procedure, which has been developed in partnership with trade unions, will now be reviewed further by t

The International Bar Association (IBA) has released a statement in defence of lawyer-client confidentiality, following a number of recent attacks on the principle from high-profile international organisations. The statement, with forewords by Lord Neuberger, former president of the UK Supreme Court

David Strang has been named as the new chair of the Drug Deaths Taskforce. He is a former chief constable who previously chaired the independent inquiry into mental health services in Tayside. Mr Strang was also HM Chief Inspector of Prisons in Scotland. He takes up this new position with immediate

As one of Scotland’s busiest trial counsel, Thomas Leonard Ross QC is well-known for passionately fighting for justice – in the courtroom and out of it. Most recently he has been a vocal opponent of the proposal that the historical right to trial by jury be removed where serious sexual o

A Lord Ordinary has granted authority to the Royal Bank of Scotland to resign as the trustee on a series of trusts it administered following a decision by the bank to discontinue its trusts and administration business and sell it to another company. RBS had sold its trust business to Ludlow Trust Co

Justice Secretary Keith Brown has announced the appointment of Lindsay Montgomery as the new lay chairing member of the Judicial Appointments Board for Scotland. Mr Montgomery has substantial experience in the management, leadership and governance of public bodies. Past roles include director of res

A former Syrian intelligence officer has been sentenced to life in prison following his conviction in Germany for crimes against humanity. German prosecutors alleged that Anwar Raslan, 58, was in charge of the Al-Khatib prison in Damascus where Syrian dissidents were tortured and killed.

Prosecutors are less likely to pursue people involved in mercy killings in cases where a suspect is “wholly motivated by compassion” or where the person had reached a “voluntary, settled and informed decision to end their life”. Current Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) advice

A wanted man who was believed to have died in the US nearly two years ago has been found alive in a Glasgow hospital after contracting Covid-19. Nicholas Rossi apparently faked his death to escape serious criminal charges in Utah and Ohio and has been living in Scotland under an assumed name, NBC re

Mark Zuckerberg may be forced to pay UK Facebook users about £50 each if a legal case succeeds. Competition law academic Liza Lovdahl Gormsen is to lodge a case against Meta, the parent company of Facebook, on behalf of 44 million users between 2015 and 2019, The Times reports.

The legal market in Scotland has changed over the last year, although perhaps not to the extent that anyone would have predicted. Firms have, in general terms, coped well with remote working and are beginning to cope well with hybrid working too. Traditional streams of work have been maintained and