News

A gynaecologist who worked at a Dutch hospital fathered at least 17 children using his own sperm and without telling the parents, it has emerged. Jan Wildschut, who has since died, worked at Isala Hospital in the city of Zwolle between 1981 and 1993.

A company that sought monies from a former director who sought to bring derivative proceedings against it under section 266 of the Companies Act 2006 has successfully appealed the decision of the sheriff to grant leave for such proceedings.  Kenneth Sinclair, the pursuer and responden

The reconviction rate for offenders in Scotland has fallen to its lowest level since comparable records began. Officials statistics for the 2017-18 offender cohort show the percentage of offenders who are reconvicted in a year was 26.3 per cent – which is a one percentage point decrease from 2

Research published today by the Scottish Human Rights Commission states that a considerable proportion of people who use social care support at home have experienced either a reduction or complete withdrawal of support during the pandemic. The new monitoring report details how the removal of care pl

Burness Paull's Chris Gotts, lead legal adviser on the Calnex IPO, discusses why more growing businesses in Scotland should follow suit.  Traditionally businesses in Scotland have sought to grow organically and through acquisition with private and/or debt funding, with their exit coming vi

RBS solicitor Marliese Perks has been named the In-house Rising Star Award winner for 2020 by the Law Society of Scotland. Law Society president Amanda Millar announced the winner at the In-house Legal Virtual Festival today.

Blair Nimmo, head of restructuring at KPMG in Scotland, discusses landlord-occupier tensions during the coronavirus pandemic. Tensions between commercial landlords and their financially stressed tenants continue to grow, and how landlords respond will be critical to the recovery not only o

A research study into wellbeing in the legal profession has been launched in the run-up to World Mental Health Day. Charity LawCare is asking anyone in the profession in the UK and Ireland, including support staff, to take part in “Life in the Law” by completing an online questionnaire.

TLT has added two new practice areas – banking & finance and corporate & commercial – to its Scotland rankings in the Legal 500.  John Paul Sheridan, partner and location head for TLT in Scotland and a ‘Leading Individual’, says: “The team has grown conside

Solicitors for the Elderly is hosting a Zoom meeting on 12 November in which Pauline Gibb, a counsellor will present a session on loss, grief and bereavement. She will speak for 15-20 minutes, followed by a question and answer session.

A former library employee has been accused of stealing at least $1.3 million in printer toner over a period of 12 years. A report alleges that Randall Whited, a former employee of Austin Public Library in Texas, fraudulently bought and stole toner, then sold it online.

The murderer of Aberdeen-born woman Neomi Smith, who was also convicted of minor assaults and behaving in an abusive or threatening manner towards her, has had his appeal against his sentence refused. Keith Rizzo, who was the deceased’s partner at the time, argued that the sentence imposed on

President of the Supreme Court, Lord Reed, has said he hopes an ethnic minority justice will be appointed to the UK's highest court before he retires in six years' time. He said the lack of diversity on the Supreme Court bench was a situation "which cannot be allowed to become shameful".

Proposed legislation giving undercover police and MI5 agents explicit permission to commit criminal offences goes "too far" and should be watered down, a former head of the English prosecution service has said. Lord Macdonald of River Glaven, who served as director of public prosecutions from 2003 t

Lord Hodge has been appointed a non-permanent judge of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal. The jurisdiction's chief executive, Carrie Lam, accepted the recommendation to appoint Lord Hodge, Deputy President of the UK Supreme Court, as a non-permanent judge from another common law jurisdiction.