News

Solicitor Clare Burns is among five newly appointed non-executive directors of the Scottish Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency (SCSSA). Lady Rae, first board chair of the SCSSA, selected the appointees following a recruitment process which was open to anyone with interest, experience and experti

The Law Society of Scotland has published new guidance on its Style Success Fee Agreement (SSFA). The new guidance, which comes into effect on 1 May, supports the Law Society’s SSFA and has been developed to help Scottish solicitors who are intending to enter an agreement either by way of a sp

English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran has won a high-profile court battle with a man who accused him of plagiarism. Sami Chokri, who performs under the name Sami Switch, claimed that Sheeran's 2017 hit Shape of You infringed on his copyright by plagiarising the main hook from his 2015 song Oh Why.

Russian military forces have extrajudicially executed civilians in Ukraine in apparent war crimes, Amnesty International said today as it published new testimony following on-the-ground research. Amnesty International’s Crisis Response investigators interviewed more than 20 people from village

A couple who moved out of their rented property early by mutual agreement have successfully challenged a finding that they were due to pay £383 of rent arrears to his former landlord. Thomas and Anne Linden rented a property from respondent Alexander MacPherson from June 2018 to March 2021. Th

Nominations are now open for the Law Society of Scotland In-house Rising Star Award 2022. The award recognises the outstanding achievement of a newly qualified Scottish solicitor or trainee who is working in-house.

Judges have called on Kentucky's state governor to veto a bill which would allow lawyers to carry guns in court. Dozens of judges, police officers and victims' advocates joined a courthouse protest calling on Democratic Governor Andy Beshear to veto House Bill 690, WDRB-TV reports.

Dentons has promoted three lawyers in Scotland to partner. The new partners are Linzi Hedalen, in contentious construction, Adam Knowles in corporate and Owen McLennan in corporate funds, who are all currently senior associates based in the firm’s Edinburgh office.

Solicitors are under pressure to improve safeguards against dirty money after a Russian oligarch claimed his business was based at the headquarters of Burness Paull. Alison Thewliss MP, the SNP’s Treasury spokeswoman, said she is deeply concerned about law firms being used to assist in the lau

The Highlands’ first female sheriff is looking forward to retirement having presided over her last case, The Press and Journal reports. Sheriff Margaret Neilson has heard her last trial at the Inverness Justice Centre after almost 40 years in the law.

The Scottish Conservative 2022 local government manifesto will include support for women's same-sex spaces at council-run venues, the party has announced.  Spokeswoman on gender reform Meghan Gallacher MSP said the move was "essential to protect women's rights and safety". 

The hearts of death-row prisoners were removed while they were still alive by surgeons in China, according to an Australian study. Researchers at the Australian National University (ANU) concluded that surgeons killed a number of prisoners during surgery, among them “prisoners of conscience&rd

An Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) case shows that in some circumstances the answers given can be fair. In Hope v British Medical Association the claimant, a senior policy adviser, raised seven grievances against senior managers in the space of just over a year. The grievances concerned, amongst ot

An appeal to the Sheriff Appeal Court by a mother involved in a referral to a children’s hearing based on errors in the sheriff’s approach to evidence has been largely refused apart from one point conceded by the sheriff. It was argued by the appellant CB that the proceedings as a whole

Murgitroyd, the pan-European intellectual property protection (IP) business, has acquired the Glasgow-based IP specialist firm, Creation IP. Creation IP is jointly owned by its founders, Bryn Williams and John Collins, both experienced patent attorneys who started the business in 2012 having previou