News

Only a handful of British families are now detained in north east Syria, a new report shows, "undermining" the UK government’s position that these families cannot be brought back to the UK. Government sources implied last year that over 300 British nationals might still be imprisoned in north

The Lord Justice General has appointed Sheriff Principal Craig Turnbull and Matt Jackson QC to fill vacant positions on the Scottish Sentencing Council. Sheriff Principal Turnbull replaces Sheriff Principal Ian Abercrombie following his retirement earlier this year. Mr Jackson has been appointed as

Dr Thomas Muinzer details the work of the Scottish Climate Emergency Legal Network this year. Since its inaugural meeting at the Legal Services Agency, Glasgow, on January 20 at the beginning of this year, the Scottish Climate Emergency Legal Network (SCELN) has been meeting on a regular basis, enga

CMS Scotland has announced it will award scholarships to support three aspiring law students. As part of an annual UK-wide initiative, the firm awards £2,500 each year to a high-performing Scottish state school pupil from an economically disadvantaged background while they are completing their

A woman impersonated a prosecutor in order to file fake documents with a court that declared a stalking and drug possession case against her had been dropped. Lisa Landon, 33, of Littleton, a town in New Hampshire, attracted the attention of prosecutors after a state forensic examiner who was to per

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