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Susanne Tanner QC has been commissioned by the Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain QC as assistant principal crown counsel. Ms Tanner, whose appointment has been planned for some time, called to the Scottish bar in 2000 and took silk in 2016. From 2019 to 2021, she held the office of director of Ampersand Ad

The mausoleum of the institutional writer Sir George Mackenzie, who became lord advocate 1677, has allegedly been violated by a tomb raider. Known as Bluidy Mackenzie for his treatment of the Covenanters he is famous nowadays for haunting the kirkyard at Greyfriars in Edinburgh, filling visitors wit

Tony Graham QC, stable director at Optimum Advocates in Glasgow, has been elected as the new chairman of Faculty Services Limited (FSL). FSL is the service company established by the Faculty of Advocates to provide administrative and support services to advocates.

NatWest has been fined £264.8 million following convictions for three offences of failing to comply with money laundering regulations. Mrs Justice Cockerill, the sentencing judge at Southwark Crown Court, said yesterday: “...it must be borne in mind that although in no way complicit in t

Edinburgh Council does not have a universally positive, open, safe and supportive whistleblowing and organisational culture, according to a report by Susanne Tanner QC. The report into the Review of the Whistleblowing and Organisational Culture of the City of Edinburgh Council was com

Act of Sederunt (Sheriff Appeal Court Rules) 2021/468 This Act of Sederunt consolidates and restates the Act of Sederunt (Sheriff Appeal Court Rules) 2015/356 with modifications. It makes provision about the procedure to be followed in appeals to the Sheriff Appeal Court in civil proceedings. The ru

Victims and survivors of the 1975 Miami Showband killings will receive close to £1.5 million in damages following a settlement with the Ministry of Defence and the Police Service of Northern Ireland. Three members of The Miami Showband – Fran O'Toole, Brian McCoy and Tony Geraghty &ndash

Billionaire celebrity Kim Kardashian West has passed an exam for first-year law students on the fourth attempt. Mrs Kardashian – daughter of famous US attorney Robert Kardashian – announced she had passed the so-called "baby bar" in California.

An Edinburgh sheriff has ruled that a £35 charge for the storage of secure data and call recordings could not be recovered from the estate of a debtor for the purposes of insolvency legislation after an appeal under section 188 of the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 2016 was made against a

The Scottish Law Commission has published a consultation on the draft Leases (Automatic Continuation etc.) (Scotland) Bill. The commission announced in its tenth programme of law reform that it would examine aspects of the Scots law of leases. The first item to be considered under its overarching pr

Regulators, government and Parliament must do more to ensure joined-up and effective regulation of the rapidly changing digital world, a new House of Lords report says. Systems are not rigorous or accountable enough to address regulatory gaps and overlaps, according to the House of Lords Communicati

On 29 November 2021, the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) announced its provisional intent to impose a potential fine of just over £17 million on Clearview AI Inc, a facial recognition company, writes Kevin McDade. In addition, the ICO has issued a provisional notice to st

A consultation seeking views on Scotland’s 'not proven' verdict and related reforms has opened. The consultation on Scotland’s unique three-verdict system will gather opinions from the public, as well as the legal sector, third sector, and those with direct experience of the justice syst

James McMillan, director at law firm Anderson Strathern, warns that Scotland has become an international hotspot for financial crime. In the UK context when you think about white-collar crime over the last couple of decades, names like Barings Bank, the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCC

Ethnic minority applicants to the bench are less likely to succeed than their white counterparts, according to official figures, The Times reports. Sitting judges called on the equalities watchdog to investigate the “discriminatory, unfair and unlawful” judicial appointment system earlie