News

There is a shortage of associates at London law firms, new figures show. Law firms advertised more than 2,300 jobs for associate-level positions between January and November last year, data from BCL Legal and Vacancysoft indicate. This was a 131 per cent increase on 2020.

A new association has been launched by the Faculty of Advocates to provide a supportive and accessible platform for newer members of the bar. Its first president, Antonia Welsh, explains the details. The junior bar association will focus on the needs of advocates called five years ago or less a

The Scottish Parliament’s Criminal Justice Committee report into reforming the criminal justice sector is an important recognition of critical issues facing the sector and the urgency required for solutions, the Law Society of Scotland has said. Ken Dalling, president of the Law Society of Sco

The High Court of Justiciary has granted a Crown appeal seeking an extension of the time limit within which a man accused of committing two sexual offences, including one against a child, was required to be brought to trial. Neil Graham originally appeared on petition on 1 October 2019, but complica

Shona Simon, President of Employment Tribunals (Scotland), is to retire at the end of April this year. Ms Simon said that while she had hoped to continue in her post through the process of the devolution of ET functions, "that project has been subject to significant delays" and that it will not occu

An Italian mobster with a distinctive scar on his chin was caught after decades on the run when he was spotted on Google Street View. Police say they tracked down mafia killer Gioacchino Gammino in the Spanish town of Galapagar after he was snapped by Google cameras standing outside a grocery shop.

Burges Salmon has announced the appointment of Amy Cornelius as director and Gregor Hayworth as senior associate in the firm’s dispute resolution team based in Edinburgh. Prior to joining Burges Salmon, Ms Cornelius held a range of senior roles, including senior associate, commercial dispute r

A Thorntons solicitor has been appointed as a committee member to the Trainee and Newly Qualified Society (TANQ), which is run by the Royal Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow. Danielle Mari Connell, a newly qualified solicitor in Thorntons’ IP, Media and Technology team, will have the opportuni

A Swansea law expert has been awarded €1.5 million to examine how public perceptions of deepfakes – AI-manipulated images, videos or audio – affect trust in user-generated evidence of human rights violations. Yvonne McDermott Rees, professor of law at the Hillary Rodham Clinton Scho

A new book exploring the constitutional legitimacy of law officers in the United Kingdom will be published this summer. Authored by Belfast-based legal academic Dr Conor McCormick, the book provides a detailed account of each law officer's functions and draws on that account as the basis for a conce

Douglas J. Cusine highlights a worrying bias in the Scottish government's consultation on the 'not proven' verdict, which sits alongside its botched consultation on the reform of legal regulation. As was mentioned in Scottish Legal News in December, the Scottish government is consulting on the &ldqu

The Scottish government's proposed regulatory reform of legal services would remove power from the Court of Session in an "unacceptable interference by the government and parliament with the judiciary", judges have said. In a response to the consultation on Legal Services Regulation Reform, the judi

Scottish Liberal Democrat justice spokesperson Liam McArthur has revealed the longest outstanding waits for fatal accident inquiries in Scotland now run to almost a decade and branded such inquiries “next to useless and an insult to families”. The party are now calling for the Scottish g

Christine O’Neill QC, chairman of Brodies LLP, has been re-elected to serve a fourth consecutive term in the role. First elected to the position of chairman in 2013, she plays an integral role in the firm’s business planning and governance and will continue to represent the partnership i

Holyrood's Criminal Justice Committee is detailing some of the changes it wants to see made in the Scottish justice sector in a new report published today. Following a series of hearings looking at justice issues, the committee is setting out the actions it wants to see taken to improve outcomes in