News

The excessive breadth of the Scottish government's proposed hate crime legislation means it could criminalise social media posts and result in a large number of prosecutions, the Faculty of Advocates has warned. In its 35-page response, the Faculty states that it is not opposed to and indeed support

At least £150 million has been wasted on unusable PPE procured from a company linked to government ministers, according to papers released through judicial review proceedings. The Good Law Project, led by founder Jo Maugham QC, is pursuing litigation over the UK government's "PPE fiasco" at th

The Electoral Reform Society has described the latest House of Lords appointments as "startlingly warped". In a briefing, it found that a majority of peers (58 per cent) were primarily elected politicians prior to entering the Lords – more than double the proportion of current peers in the Lor

Employment law, HR and health & safety specialists Law At Work has recorded a 425 per cent increase in redundancy enquiries as the potential impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Scottish unemployment begins to show. A total of 383 businesses contacted the firm to discuss the process for laying

Iain McDougall discusses the increase in copyright infringement claims during the pandemic. Like most law firms we are seeing trends in certain types of litigation as a result of COVID-19. As expected, we have been asked to assist clients with disputes regarding rental premises, interruption to

A long-awaited review of protections for vulnerable witnesses in the investigation and prosecution of sexual offences in Ireland has backed proposals for anonymity to be extended to defendants in all sexual assault trials, as well as greater supports for complainants. The review, chaired by Tom O&rs

A merger between two suppliers of retail investment platform solutions has been provisionally blocked by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) as it could be anti-competitive. FNZ purchased GBST in November 2019. According to the CMA, their merger could lead to UK consumers who rely

Morton Fraser has become only the sixth business out of more than 350,000 headquartered in Scotland to join the 30% Club. The 30% Club sets targets for gender representation at board and executive committee levels amongst the FTSE 350 and asks all members to embrace fully inclusive cultures that con

An arbitrary and long-standing ban on aspiring lawyers in Texas bringing their own menstrual products to the bar exam has been lifted following renewed criticism. Law professors in the state wrote to the Texas Board of Law Examiners last month, highlighting a national plea from nearly 3,000 law prof

A patent for a monitoring apparatus for handheld power tools has been held to be valid following a challenge of its validity in a patent infringement case.  Reactec Ltd originally brought an action against Curotec Team Ltd seeking interdict against patent infringement on the grou

The new Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Advocates is Ronnie Renucci QC. The post of Vice-Dean became vacant when Roddy Dunlop QC was elected Dean of Faculty last month. Following a ballot between last Friday morning and 3pm today, Mr Renucci was elected by members of Faculty in a two-way contest with Ly

Even by the standards of today’s enfeebled and anaemic media, the lack of coverage of the death of Clive Ponting who passed away last week at his home in Kelso is remarkable. It is also lamentable. Ponting was a young, high-flying civil servant who could not live with the lie Margaret Thatcher

Innes Clark looks at redundancy and the right to appeal, which is not as clear cut as you might have thought. An appeal against a decision to make an employee redundant appears in many, if not most, company redundancy procedures. While the ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievanc

The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation to assess the proposed $2.1 billion acquisition of Fitbit by Google under the EU Merger Regulation. The Commission is concerned that the proposed transaction would further entrench Google's market position in the online advertising markets

The Supreme Court ought to be abolished and have its functions transferred to an appeal court comprising judges drawn from the UK's three legal jurisdictions, a senior barrister and academic has suggested. In a paper for the Policy Exchange think tank, Derrick Wyatt QC, emeritus professor of law at