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The Scotsman has published an obituary for John Watt Wightman CVO CBE RD* WS, lawyer and commodore, who passed away on 19 September 2021, aged 87. "John Wightman was born in Leith, to solicitor Robert Johnson Wightman and Edith Laing. Shortly after he was joined by sister Edith Mary. John recalled p

Shepherd and Wedderburn partner Louisa Knox has been appointed as a non-executive board director at Scottish Financial Enterprise (SFE). Ms Knox specialises in pensions law, working on a range of clients on all pensions related matters including ongoing advisory, scheme restructuring, ESG and r

In 2020-21, 58 victims of homicide were recorded, 12 per cent (eight victims) fewer than the 66 victims recorded in 2019-20. Of the 58 victims, 83 per cent (48) were male. Scotland’s Chief Statistician today published Homicide in Scotland, 2020-21. The publication provides information on crime

A Spanish law governing the registration of births that gives the father's name immutable precedence over the mother's where there is a disagreement falls foul of the ECHR, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled. The Article 14 case concerned the applicant’s request to reverse the order

Robert Milligan QC's new book Funding Personal Injury Litigation in Scotland is now available to purchase. 2021 has been a landmark year in the funding of personal injury litigation in Scotland. Long-awaited changes in relation to damages based agreements (DBAs) and qualified one way cost

Plans to offer "automatic online convictions" to people charged with minor offences will lead to "trigger-happy justice", campaigners have said. The UK government's controversial Judicial Review and Courts Bill, which returns to the Commons floor today, will allow for people charged with minor offen

A Scottish environmental charity has successfully challenged the manner in which licences for lethal control of beavers in Scotland were issued by way of petition for judicial review in the Outer House of the Court of Session. Trees For Life sought nine declarators as well as the reduction of 49 lic

The Scottish government has "no understanding" of the seriousness of the legal aid problem, a lawyer has said. The reaction follows a letter from from legal affairs minister Ash Regan to Ken Dalling, president of the Law Society of Scotland, and Julia McPartlin, president of the Scottish Solicitors

Legal academic Navraj Singh Ghaleigh has authored and coordinated an open letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the future of oil and gas exploration in the United Kingdom, ahead of COP26. With recent climate events highlighting the worsening impacts of the climate crisis, the cost of delaying m

Macdonald Henderson announced six hires and two senior promotions.

We will hear lots about net-zero targets and tackling climate change in the coming weeks as COP26 arrives in Glasgow. Scotland has set itself the ambitious target of reducing emissions of all greenhouse gases to net zero by 2045. The rest of the UK, in common with most other countries, is targeting

Harper Macleod's corporate team has advised Beecatcher Pte Limited, a Singapore based company, on its acquisition of Byron Bakery Ltd in November 2020. Operating since the 1950s, Byron Bakery is a well-known bakery and retail store based in Aberdeen which has developed an extensive customer base and

Amnesty International is to close its Hong Kong offices by the end of the year because of China's controversial national security legislation. The human rights organisation said its work had been made "effectively impossible" by the Hong Kong national security law introduced by Beijing last summer i

A life-saving nasal inhaler that can reverse the effects of an opiod overdose is being given to men leaving jail. Prisoners at Barlinnie are being given the device and training on how to use it before being released as this is a time when people are vulnerable to overdosing.

When 12 ships from the Crimean port of Kaffa docked at Messina, Sicily, in October 1347 they carried more than onward consignments of exotic articles from the ancient oriental silk route. They also brought the bacterium versinia pestis. This had been passed from rodents and fleas to the ships’