News

Scotland has the highest prison population rate in the UK and one of the highest in Europe, a new report shows. The 47-nation Council of Europe has today published its Annual Penal Statistics for 2021, compiled by the University of Lausanne.

Police are investigating a series of bizarre meat attacks including one where lamb chops were stuffed into the exhaust pipe of a car. Raw chicken and eggs were thrown at another home and car in the strange incidents under investigation in Herefordshire in the west of England.

Lawyers expect to see a surge in divorce applications tomorrow as no-fault divorce rules come into effect in England and Wales. Couples will no longer have to allocate blame to end their marriage, nor separate for at least two years.

A sheriff has ruled that the death of a creel fisherman with coronary artery and heart disease who fell into a harbour was an accident, but not one with a determinable cause.  Alexander Wood, who was aged 65 at the time of his death, was a self-employed creel fisherman working out of Burntislan

The Scottish Child Law Centre is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Since it was established, the centre has advised over 50,000 parents, carers, children and young people on their legal rights and has had a major impact on thousands of lives.

Addleshaw Goddard (AG) has announced that corporate lawyer Laura Falls will become its newest partner in Scotland as part of the firm's largest ever partner promotion round. She will join the partnership from 1 May, part of a 20-strong promotion round which will bring the firm's total global partner

Staff and students at the University of Dundee have elected solicitor Amanda Millar as chair of court, the university’s governing body. She has been elected for a period of three years after receiving 523 votes to the 369 cast for William Patey.

Thorntons Solicitors continues to make progress on workplace gender equality, with the mean hourly pay gap between men and women narrowing by 13.6 per cent since reporting of the issue began. The firm, which now has 566 people including 70 partners, published its annual gender pay report today, cove

Members of the Glasgow Bar Association (GBA) will no longer accept court appointments in cases where accused persons are not allowed to represent themselves after 90 per cent of member firms voted in favour of action, the body has announced. The GBA represents and promotes the interests of approxima

One of Sweden's top judges has been fined after stealing meatballs – as well as sausages, cheese and an entire Christmas ham – from a supermarket. Mrs Justice Ann-Christine Lindeblad, a judge of the Supreme Court of Sweden for nearly 20 years, resigned in February after police began inve

Harper Macleod has advised a Highland timber and building supplies business in its move to an employee ownership trust. A corporate team, led by Chris Kerr and including Peter McLuckie, Ross Thomson and Joanne Finlayson, advised the shareholders of Inverness-based Caley Timber and Building Supplies,

Holyrood's criminal justice committee has warned against setting in stone a presumption in favour of remote legal hearings. The committee has set out its views on the proposed extension of temporary changes to the justice system in the Scottish government’s Coronavirus (Recovery and Reform) Bi

A practical guide to the law in relation to single-sex spaces has been published by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) today. The guidance aims to help service providers make lawful decisions about any services they offer to women and men separately, by explaining the permitted sex and

The Crown Office has begun an investigation into claims that perjury was committed during the trial of Alex Salmond. Mr Salmond's lawyers have written to prosecutors over concerns that evidence that was given in court ran contrary to statements that were later given to MSPs on an inquiry.

Anderson Strathern has partnered with LINC Scotland to provide the angel association’s members with advice around the National Security and Investment Act 2021, which came into force on 4 January this year and allows the UK government to scrutinise acquisitions and investments that could harm