News

The president of the Law Society of Scotland has written to the Lord President to raise concerns over the introduction of weekend courts to resolve the criminal case backlog. In a letter to Lord Carloway, Amanda Millar questioned why weekend and holiday courts were being considered without consultat

The President of the Supreme Court, Lord Reed, has described as "idiotic" suggestions that the court should be stripped of its title and said that downgrading the institution would be an “act of national self-harm”. The UK government has been considering changing the court's name and cut

Levy & McRae has announced a number of promotions. The firm has promoted to legal director: Sandra Biggart (private client/matrimonial), who trained with the firm in the mid-1990s and has spent most of her career there and Carol Boyd, (commercial litigation) who joined the firm in 2016 and

Legislation has been passed giving more powers to police and courts to protect people at risk of domestic abuse. The Domestic Abuse (Protection) (Scotland) Bill aims to enable police and courts to ban suspected abusers from re-entering the home and from approaching or contacting the person at risk f

The Law Society of Scotland and Scottish Legal Complaints Commission have clashed over the latter body's proposed budget. The society said that the SLCC is costing more for doing less and must address its rising inefficiency with urgency. Responding to the consultation on the SLC

Michael Reid, managing partner at Meston Reid & Co, gives his take on how changes to insolvency law could come into play for one key industry sector – the fishing industry. Whether it is the continuing impact of Covid-19 or the more recently reported effects of Brexit, media comments proli

Govan Law Centre (GLC) has been awarded Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB) funding to improve free debt and money advice. GLC’s debt navigator project will develop online debt tools, guidance and advice in a range of formats.

On Thursday 25 March, the Equality and Human Rights Commission Scotland will host a webinar exploring some of the discrimination issues that could arise for workers now and in the coming months. The end of lockdown is on the horizon and with that various employment-related issues which could give ri

A lawyer is facing a bill of more than £50,000 after having lost a court battle in a row over a "lovely thick" laurel hedge, The Times reports. Julia Lofthouse sued Nick Hartley after he told his gardener to thin the hedge that separates their properties in Surrey.

A Crown appeal against the Sheriff Appeal Court’s decision to quash the convictions of three men who wore allegedly offensive T-shirts to a football match between Celtic FC and Linfield FC has succeeded in the High Court of Justiciary. Daniel Ward, Martin Macaulay and Ryan

Since the government’s national lockdown restrictions were implemented in January, criminal courts have focused on the most serious trials, with the majority of summary trials in the Sheriff Court and Justice of the Peace Court adjourned. Having reviewed the Covid-19 transmission levels and th

Holyrood has voted to directly incorporate the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into domestic law. MSPs voted unanimously for the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill to become law, meaning public authorities will have to co

More than 350 sheriff solemn cases were concluded in February, which is 82 per cent of the pre-Covid level. Figures from the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service show that during the month of February:

Anderson Strathern has appointed Alison Pryde as a tax director. Ms Pryde brings nearly 30 years’ experience providing tax advisory services, with a particular focus on rural landowners, family businesses, professional partnerships, landlords and high net worth individuals. A law graduate from

Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf has welcomed official figures showing the volume of crime covered by the survey in Scotland is down 46 per cent since 2008-09, with violent crime having fallen by nearly two-fifths (39 per cent) over the same period. The Scottish Crime and Justice Survey (SCJS) 2019-20