News

Thorntons has ushered in the new year with three promotions. Gary Mannion from the personal injury team in Dundee and Lucy Metcalf from the family law team in Edinburgh have both joined the partnership. Janice Napier has been promoted to legal director in business law within the commercial property

Roddy Harrison has joined Wright, Johnston & Mackenzie LLP as a partner.   Mr Harrison, who is ranked Band 3 in Chambers, formerly headed up BTO Solicitors’ private client team for 16 years before becoming a partner at Dentons in 2018.

Rachael Brandon has been appointed a director at Boyd Legal. Ms Brandon, who specialises in equity release, currently manages a team of seven.

Some of the more controversial aspects of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 are to be brought into force by February 28, writes Hamish Lean. These are the long-awaited rules applying to a secure agricultural tenant’s right to relinquish their interest in the tenancy in return for compensatio

The Scotsman has published a full obituary of David Wood. "David D Wood was, until he retired due to ill health in 2000, the doyen of the solicitors practising in Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court. Highly respected in legal circles, Mr Wood was appointed to be an Honorary Sheriff in 1990 and he served with di

A tribunal is set to consider whether people outside of the UK have a right to access information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. According to ComputerWeekly, the First-Tier Tribunal will hold a preliminary two-day hearing later this month to consider six questions related to nationality,

Plans to ban all non-household biodegradable waste from entering landfill by 2025 have been set out in the Scottish government’s Climate Change Plan update. A ban on household biodegradable waste being sent to landfill is already in place and the Climate Change Plan 2018 – 2032 commits t

The Chinese government is to revoke the licences of human rights lawyers hired to help protestors in Hong Kong who were arrested as they attempted to flee to Taiwan last August. A Chinese court sentenced 10 of the protestors to prison terms ranging from seven months to two years after they were conv

Benjamin Bestgen this week contrasts the letter of the law with its spirit. See his last jurisprudential primer here.  As a species, humans value play, sports and games. For example, probably all of us know somebody who enjoys cardgames, boardgames, videogames or various kinds of table-top game

A taxi driver who allegedly charged unsuspecting tourists more than four times the standard rate for a trip from an airport to a hotel has been reported to police. The tourists, from Hong Kong, were allegedly charged €230 for a ride from Charles de Gaulle Airport to their hotel in Paris city ce

A building contractor that was hired to construct an extension at a school in Ayrshire has succeeded in an action to enforce an adjudicator’s award following a dispute with the local authority. The pursuer, D McLaughlin & Sons Ltd, was contracted by the defender, East Ayrshire Co

Significant concerns have been raised over the Scottish statutory instrument implementing an ostensible increase in legal aid fees proposed by the Scottish government last year. The Glasgow Bar Association said only five of its members supported the package offered by the government and that it had

As tougher Covid restrictions are introduced in Scotland, the Lord President, Lord Carloway, has called for all court and tribunal users to abide by the protective measures already in place against Covid transmission in Scotland’s courts and tribunal buildings. In his statement issued today, h

The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) has confirmed that courts and tribunals will continue to operate business as currently scheduled during the latest lockdown. The existing exemptions to restrictions, allowing court and tribunal users and staff to travel to, and work in, court and

A legal messenger known as the world’s most loyal employee, having worked at the same firm for 84 years, has passed away. John Burns was 98 and had said he would retire in the weeks before his death. He had continued delivering legal documents around the Court of Session for TC Young Wilson Te