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Addleshaw Goddard’s corporate team in Scotland has said it is confident that there will continue to be a strong pipeline of deal activity despite challenges caused by the ongoing pandemic and the impact of Brexit. With proposed changes to capital gains tax on the horizon for March 2021, the fi

There were more High Court evidence led trials in December 2020 than during the same period in the preceding two years amid severe delays caused by the pandemic, new figures from the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) show. Remote jury centres enabled 29 High Court evidence led trials

The "unprecedented and very serious" backlog in the criminal courts due to the Covid-19 pandemic poses a serious risk to the criminal justice system, the four justice watchdogs in England and Wales have warned. In a joint report, the police, prosecutors, prisons and probation inspectorates expressed

The Scottish Hospitals Inquiry will hold the first of its public hearings in September 2021 where it plans to hear from affected patients and families.

The Scottish Law Agents’ Society has highlighted the problems facing the profession in obtaining CPD following the Law Society of Scotland’s re-imposition of it in full as of the current practice year. Andrew Stevenson, secretary of the Society, said: “Covid lockdown has drive

Legislation to ensure property factors adhere to a consistent standard has been laid before the Scottish Parliament. Property factors are responsible for managing common parts of land or properties, overseeing maintenance and repair work on behalf of homeowners. Those included on the Property F

Lawyers acting for Sir Van Morrison have launched a legal challenge against the blanket ban on live music in licensed premises in Northern Ireland. Belfast-based John J Rice & Co Solicitors is acting for the famous musician in a judicial review which argues the ban, which dates back to the begin

Benjamin Bestgen considers the fairness of the high standards to which we hold lawyers. Read last week's jurisprudential primer here. The legal profession is a deeply human one and humans are complex creatures. As a species we are capable of extraordinary feats of courage, intellect, wisdom, kindnes

A teenager who was rapped for supporting Black Lives Matter protests turned the tables on her mother by turning her in for allegedly trying to storm the Capitol. Helena Duke, 18, took to Twitter to highlight footage of her mum, uncle and aunt among the mob of pro-Trump rioters who wreaked havoc earl

Andrew Stevenson reflects on a literary-cum-legal encounter between two of Scotland's greatest writers.  Two hundred years ago two of Scotland’s most eminent men of literature met in court. One of them, James Hogg, the self-styled Ettrick Shepherd, is best known for his novel The Private

The Civil Division of the Sheriff Appeal Court has allowed an appeal by a mother against the grant of a supervised contact order for her young daughter’s father and remitted the case to a new sheriff for reconsideration. The appellant, AG, who was the defender in the original ap

The administrators of Rangers FC who were maliciously prosecuted have been paid more than £20 million, The National reports. The newspaper claims that £21m in total has been paid to the two men and a further £3m has been given to them for legal expenses.

Scotland has officially recorded only one high-profile fraud case for the entire period of 2020 as Covid-19 continues to pose profound logistical challenges for the country’s justice system.  The latest data from KPMG’s Fraud Barometer report reveals a single case of alleged fraud,

Reports of female-perpetrated child sexual abuse rose by 84 per cent between 2015 and 2019, the BBC reports. Victims of such abuse face "enormous stigma and shame", according to police and charities.

Baktosch Gillan spoke to Rosalind McInnes, BBC Scotland legal director, about her career with the broadcaster and coping with lockdown. In more than two decades as an in-house solicitor with BBC Scotland, Rosalind McInnes has been a source of advice and support to not only the journalists employed a