News

Russia failed to justify the lack of any opportunity for same-sex couples to have their relationship formally acknowledged, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has found. The court unanimously held that there had been a violation of Article 8 – right to respect for privat

The Aarhus Regulation is to be revised in order to bring it fully in line with the Aarhus Convention, including extending the provisions beyond NGOs. The Council of Europe Presidency and European Parliament negotiators reached a provisional political agreement on a proposal to revise the Aarhus

Magic circle law firm Slaughter and May has launched three pilot schemes in recent months for its associates. Under the 'switch on/off' plan, lawyers are allowed to cut their hours over the course of a year by taking blocks of leave that have been agreed in advance, which would result in lower pay.

A rooster who prevailed in a legal battle for the right to crow has become the subject of an opera celebrating rural life. Le Coq Maurice opened at a farm theatre in France on Sunday and was inspired by the tale of a noisy bird and his irritated neighbour on the Atlantic coast island of Oléro

The Inner House of the Court of Session has allowed an appeal by an employer against a decision of the Employment Appeal Tribunal to uphold grounds of appeal against a teacher’s dismissal following him being charged with possession of indecent images of children. The appellant employ

Brodies LLP has been appointed to the London Universities Purchasing Consortium's (LUPC) legal services framework agreement, to provide legal support to consortia members across England and Wales. Seventeen law firms were appointed across four lots, with Brodies being one of two firms to secure appo

Lynne Cardow, a partner at BTO Solicitors LLP, has been awarded specialist accreditation in professional negligence by the Law Society of Scotland and is one of only 10 Scottish solicitors to hold this accreditation. She has also become a certified specialist in cybersecurity along with Lynn Ri

Calls have been made for serious offences in the military to be tried in civilian courts due to “shamefully low” conviction rates. Ministry of Defence figures obtained by Labour indicate that the conviction rate for rape cases heard by courts martial was six times lower than in civilian

Contracts have been awarded for the option of private surgery for the removal of transvaginal mesh. Last month the Scottish government announced the cost of private surgery to remove transvaginal mesh will be reimbursed under a proposed new law.

Steven Smart looks at historical and recent Court of Session cases on abuse and considers the 'difficult balancing act' needed to decide on these cases. Many well-publicised examples have brought to light the scale of historic child abuse. The Scottish Parliament sought to remove barriers to potenti

Pinsent Masons has updated its bonus scheme for fee-earners as well as business operations staff. The new scheme will see staff expected to satisfy the same criteria for bonuses, irrespective of their department or role.

A man who was on his deathbed with necrotizing fasciitis and who later developed alcoholism has overcome his challenges to graduate from Abertay University with an LLB. William Murphy, 52, from Cowdenbeath, left school at the age of 15 with no qualifications. He thereafter began a 25-year career in

Google has been fined €500 million in France after it failed to comply with an order to come to a fair deal with publishers over using their news content on its platform. The firm ignored a 2020 decision to negotiate in good faith over the display of snippets of articles on Google News, accordi

John Cairns, professor of civil law at Edinburgh Law School, will be chairing an online roundtable on Enlightenment and Racism hosted by the AGM of the Eighteenth-Century Scottish Studies Society, held at the University of Liverpool. The Eighteenth-Century Scottish Studies Society will hold the even

A new specialist bar association focused on climate issues is due to be launched in Ireland this week. Comhshaol, the Climate Bar Association, will be dedicated to pursuing pro-environmental initiatives within the jurisdiction's Law Library and in society more widely.