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A new professional services group which aims to "disrupt" the Scottish legal scene with technology has been launched with more than £1 million of initial backing. Founded by Rob Aberdeen, a former partner at Aberdein Considine and Walker Morris, new firm Aberdeins will begin with a focus on le

Scottish law clinics and senior lawyers have come together to launch a new online platform to provide free on-demand video training to law students involved in pro bono work across Scotland. The Probonoskills.com (PBS) platform, believed to be the first of its kind, will give pro bono students acces

New legislation to improve the benefits system to help those who need it most was unanimously passed by the Scottish Parliament yesterday. The Social Security Administration and Tribunal Membership (Scotland) Bill supports the delivery of the new Scottish Child Payment, to provide low-income familie

Corporate lawyer Michael Cox examines the latest EU update of consumer protection rules. The New Deal for Consumers (NDC) is a refresh of European consumer protection rules, to bring existing laws up-to-date for the digital age.

Glasgow City Council is seeking what is believed to be one of the first court interdicts in Scotland to enforce an existing ban on a short-term let which has continued to advertise for bookings amid the coronavirus pandemic. Last year, Ahmed Boutoubane was hit with enforcement action for his letting

Home Secretary Priti Patel allegedly ordered civil servants to consider processing asylum seekers on remote islands more than 4,000 miles from Britain, according to reports. Ms Patel asked her officials to look into the viability of an Australian-style offshore asylum processing centre on Ascension

Baroness Hale of Richmond, the former president of the UK Supreme Court, will deliver a lecture next week on communication and transparency in the UK's top court. Lady Hale, who retired in January, will give the English-Speaking Union's Evelyn Wrench Lecture 2020 via Zoom on Tuesday 10 November, 7.3

The head of the Auschwitz Memorial in Poland has offered to serve part of a jail sentence in Nigeria on behalf of a 13-year-old boy facing 10 years in prison for blasphemy. Dr Piotr Cywinski, director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, wrote to the president of Nigeria this week to plead for cl

Police officers have been offered "surf therapy" to help them deal with mental health problems. The roll-out of the scheme is reportedly inspired by its use in the military – conjuring up images of Francis Ford Coppola's epic, Apocalypse Now.

The former husband of a woman who sought divorce on the grounds of unreasonable behaviour has succeeded in appealing the manner in which the matrimonial property was divided.  Allan Neill, the defender and appellant, who was not opposed to the granting of the divorce, argued that the sheriff ha

The Law Society of Scotland has welcomed proposals to clear the Covid-19 courts backlog and called for "urgent, full and frank discussions with all interested parties" to address the problem. Holyrood’s Justice Committee yesterday published a report setting out a “basket of measures&rdqu

The Lord President, Lord Carloway, has hailed the “remarkable” determination of the legal profession to maintain access to justice during the Covid-19 pandemic. In his address marking the Opening of the Legal Year, Lord Carloway said it seemed likely that the current remote systems in co

A senior lawyer has warned that it is "just a matter of time" until Covid-19 is transmitted in court buildings unless more preventive measures are taken. Stuart Murray, president of the Aberdeen Bar Association, told The Press and Journal that the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) is "fai

The Scottish government has called on MSPs to reject legislative consent for the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill, which it says will erode the powers of the Scottish Parliament. A legislative consent memorandum (LCM) lodged with Holyrood by Constitutional Relations Secretary Michael Russell says

Nearly 1,700 crimes were reported under Scotland's new domestic abuse laws in their first year in force, according to new figures. Recorded crime figures for 2019/20 show that 1,681 crimes were recorded under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018, which was enacted on 1 April 2019.