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Solicitors in West Lothian will move to adjourn future trial diets as concern over the safety of courts in Scotland grows. The Faculty of West Lothian Solicitors has endorsed the response of the Glasgow Bar Association to the Lord President, Lord Carloway, who this week said failure to comply with c

In the fourth quarter of 2020, the average property selling price in Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and the Borders was £269,542, up 8.1 per cent compared to last year, according to the latest data released by ESPC.

Martin Devine looks at the state of the commercial property sector during the pandemic. It has been a tumultuous year for the commercial property sector with Covid-19 disrupting investors’ plans and, at least in the short term, bringing transactional activity to a shuddering halt.

Millions of leaseholders will be given the right to extend their lease by a maximum term of 990 years at zero ground rent under the "biggest reforms to English property law for 40 years". At present, the right to a lease extension enables a lease to be extended by 50 years in the case of a house and

With the festive period over, the first working week in January traditionally sees one of the busiest periods of the year for family lawyers with the number people separating increasing following the Christmas and New Year holidays. Statistics on divorce regularly reveal a significant rise in the nu

A doctor dedicated to helping people in war-torn Sri Lanka, a performer reaching out to those battling addiction and a humanitarian bringing the latest cancer therapies to the developing world, are all in the running for this year's Robert Burns Humanitarian Award (RBHA). The winner will be announc

The US Justice Department has said it would not rule out pursuing President Trump over his possible role in encouraging rioters to storm the US Capitol on Wednesday.

A three-foot-long bronze sword stolen from a century-old statue more than four decades ago has been returned with apologies. Historical authorities in the town of Westfield, Massachusetts announced that General William Shepard, a hero of the US revolutionary war, would finally be reunited with his o

The National Crime Agency has succeeded in an action under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 to recover monies from the frozen bank account of a former English car sales company as the proceeds of unlawful conduct. Niche Cars Ltd, which had its registered office in Bradford and had

The Law Society of Scotland has raised issues over solicitors' ability to perform their jobs properly in courts with the courts service. Amanda Millar, president of the Law Society of Scotland, said practitioners had expressed concern with the current arrangements and "their ability to play a full a

Balfour and Manson has appointed James Hyams as an associate. Mr Hyams, a graduate of the University of Edinburgh originally joined the firm as a trainee in August 2015. He qualified as a solicitor in 2017, training in Balfour and Manson’s commercial property, employment and private client dep

The Scottish government has been urged to do more to prevent an increase in adverts which seek sex in lieu of rent. According to surveys by Shelter and ComRes, as many as 30,000 women were propositioned with ‘sex for rent’ offers across the UK since the start of the lockdown last Ma

Take-home Naloxone will be given to people at high risk of accidental overdoses in a move designed to reduce the number of drug deaths, the Scottish government has said. This will include those who have been resuscitated by the Scottish Ambulance Service (SAS) following an accidental overdose. 

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published the results of its coronavirus financial resilience surveys revealing the impact of coronavirus on firms’ financial resilience. In response to the crisis, the FCA has been monitoring the effects of the economic downturn on firms’ s

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