News

The UK government has been urged to repatriate foreign fighters and their families detained in camps in north-east Syria following an intervention by UN human rights experts. In a court filing, the UN special rapporteur on human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism and the UN s

The Home Secretary and Prime Minister's comments critical of lawyers "feed into a febrile atmosphere", the new president of the Law Society of England and Wales has said in the wake of a knife attack on a lawyer. David Greene, 64, told The Times that while it would be "wrong" to suggest the attack f

In the UK around 95 per cent of Britain’s 4.9 million private businesses employ less than 10 people. While 75 per cent are sole proprietors, another 20 per cent have up to only nine employees. This means that many of these businesses are not in a position to implement a Group Life Protection s

Leo Mattersdorf, friend and accountant of Albert Einstein, claimed the great physicist once said to him during a meal that "the hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax". Benjamin Bestgen this week takes a look at this marmite subject. See last week's jurisprudential primer here. I

Belgium has said it will invoke a 350-year-old treaty allowing Flemish fishermen to fish in British waters if a post-Brexit fishing deal cannot be struck. The charter, which was rediscovered in Belgian archives in the 1960s, was issued by King Charles II in 1666 as thanks to the city of Bruges for h

A sex offender who was convicted of indecently assaulting his cousin, who died before the beginning of the trial diet, has had his appeal against the conviction on the grounds that the trial was unfair refused. The appellant, AS, was also convicted of the indecent assault, attempted rape, and r

Holyrood’s Local Government and Communities Committee is seeking views on a new bill which aims to increase private tenants’ protection by limiting rent increases and allowing them to seek a “fair” rent. The Fair Rents (Scotland) Bill, a member’s bill from Pauline McNei

Personal data transfers between the UK and the EU after Brexit are "in jeopardy" because the UK's privacy watchdog does not meet strict EU standards, privacy experts have warned. The need for the UK to pass an adequacy assessment to allow frictionless data transfers to continue after Brexit was high

On Wednesday 21 October, the Equality and Human Rights Commission Scotland will host a webinar to discuss the use and impact of sexual history evidence and personal information in rape and sexual assault trials in Scotland. The webinar follows on from the commission’s review of legislation, ca

Three new videos will present short biographies of inspiring women in the Scottish legal profession. President of the Mental Health Tribunal for Scotland, Laura Dunlop QC, will feature in the first in the series of short films produced by Ashurst Women's Network, in collaboration with First 100 Year

Sexual orientation discrimination cases have increased 165 per cent since 2015, according to new data from compliance training specialist DeltaNet International and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ). The study analysed over 120,000 discrimination cases that went to employment tribunals and included case

Our sister publication Scottish Construction Now has added a legal section on its busy website. Sponsored by Compass Chambers, Construction Law in Scotland will host news and developments in construction, planning and property law in Scotland.

A 32-year-old solicitor with Grenadian and Irish parents is set to become the youngest-ever deputy master in the High Court in England and Wales. Jason Raeburn, an associate at Baker McKenzie in London, is due to be sworn in as a deputy master in the Chancery Division of the High Court.

A leading member of the parody Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is facing up to six years in prison for alleged illegal political activities. Mikhail Iosilevich, the Russian head of the fake religion whose followers call themselves "Pastafarians", is accused of links to a banned Russian opposi

The environmental organisation Greenpeace has had its petition for judicial review of the decision to allow the development of a North Sea oil field refused. The Secretary of State for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy, the first respondent to the petition, granted consent to BP