News

An appeal by a divorcing husband against the financial provision aspect of his divorce on the ground that the Lord Ordinary had miscalculated the amount payable has been refused by the Inner House of the Court of Session. The defender and reclaimer, MMA, argued that the Lord Ordinary had e

The actions of the UK government during the coronavirus emergency this year bear the hallmarks of authoritarianism, Lord Sumption has warned. The former Supreme Court justice noted that authoritarian government promotes "loyalty at the expense of wisdom and flattery at the expense of objective advic

Concerns have been raised by the Faculty of Advocates about a safety omission in plans for automated vehicles on motorways. Cars fitted with an Automated Lane Keeping System (ALKS) could be controlled by computer for extended periods in slow-moving motorway traffic, allowing, for the first time, mot

Venues for additional remote jury centres to serve the Sheriffdoms of Glasgow and Strathkelvin and Lothian and Borders have been confirmed. For trials running in Glasgow Sheriff Court, six juries will be based remotely in Glasgow Quay. For trials running initially in Edinburgh Sheriff Court and then

The Times has published an obituary of Ronnie Scott Brown, lawyer and fund manager, born on February 14, 1937. He passed away on August 6, 2020, aged 83. "Those around Scott Brown said that he employed a legal mind with the ability to pour oil over troubled waters, while keeping everyone onside. He

One of the most highly-rated experts in public and parliamentary law has joined Burness Paull. Fiona Killen, who was previously with Anderson Strathern, brings experience of working directly within Parliament, public sector, higher education and professional bodies and advising a wide range of

Criminal defence work may be a tough gig, but for an aspiring writer of crime fiction it has one key draw: it throws up a huge amount of material to work from. Indeed, when Russel & Aitken partner William McIntyre decided to turn his hand to novel writing a little over a decade ago he found he h

Andrew Stevenson, Secretary of the Scottish Law Agents Society (SLAS) criticises attacks on “leftie lawyers” made by Boris Johnson and Priti Patel at this year’s Conservative Party Conference. Human rights are not an academic’s plaything or a means of chicanery or obstruction

Fred Mackintosh QC successfully represented the Cockburn Association, the New Town and Broughton Community Council and the Edinburgh World Heritage Trust, at a public inquiry into the appeals submitted by developers against the decisions by the City of Edinburgh Council to refuse their applicat

In the thirtieth article in Scottish Legal News' jurisprudential primer series, Benjamin Bestgen takes a look at fictional legal systems. See his last entry here. Early readers of this series may recall my article about depictions of law in utopian fiction. What stood out was that utopian write

A relative of Zimbabwe's president has been arrested at Robert Gabriel Mugabe Airport in Harare after she allegedly tried to smuggle 14 bars of gold onto a flight to Dubai. On Monday, airport scanners picked up 6kg of gold valued at £280,000 in the handbag of Henrietta Rushwaya, who is head of

The Edinburgh Tax Network, in conjunction with CIOT and Terra Firma Chambers, will present a talk entitled ‘Tax Issues on Importing and Exporting - post 1 January 2021’ on 5 November 2020 from 1pm to 2pm. The speaker, Matthew Paul Clark, LL.B, LL.M. (Liverpool), PwC Director and Head of

A woman who argued it was unlawful to distinguish between Statutory Maternity Pay and state Maternity Allowance when calculating how much a person should receive in Universal Credit has failed in her claim before an English court. Taylor Moore had recently changed jobs when she commenced matern

Prompt action is needed by the Scottish government to reform the law of crofting, the Law Society of Scotland has said. In a report, the Law Society sets out recommendations detailing proposed solutions to issues in four areas of crofting law: aspects of succession, owner occupier status, statutory

A new legally binding instrument to protect lawyers should be drafted as soon as possible, the Council of Europe (CoE) has said in a new report. The principles and guarantees of advocates, published by the CoE's Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, reiterates the need for a 'European convent