News

The Ministry of Justice is to provide £3.1 million in funding to support people representing themselves in court. In a joint initiative with the Access to Justice Foundation, funding will be provided to not for profit organisations across the country to provide free legal support.

The Scottish Feminist Judgments Project (SFJP) has launched a podcast. The SFJP is a project which brings together legal academics, practising lawyers, and representatives from the third sector, to consider whether important legal cases might have been decided differently if the judgment had adopted

A British police officer was rescued by firefighters after he got his hands stuck in his own handcuffs. The core training sergeant for Northamptonshire's police force, Scott Renwick, admitted in a tweet that he got stuck in the broken handcuffs and had to be rescued by the local fire service.

A Scottish man who was injured in a quad bike accident while on holiday in Greece has been unsuccessful in obtaining damages in relation to his injuries. Keith Fitzsimmons claimed he was injured when the quad bike came into contact with a tanker whilst on the road. As the driver could not be located

Scottish Legal News is saddened – and angered – to have to reprint the open letter sent by Glenrothes solicitor Yvonne McKenna to the Scottish Legal Aid Board highlighting the unsustainably low SLAB fees her firm received for work on a landmark case concerning the rights of relevant pers

A revised version of a scheme which deals with counsel’s fees has been published by the Faculty of Advocates. The main updates in the 2020 Scheme for the Accounting For and Collection Of Counsel’s Fees relate to speculative fees and reflect changes introduced by the Civil Litigation (Exp

Clan Childlaw has lent its support to the latest amendments to the Children (Scotland) Bill, which would widen participation in children's hearings. The bill as amended would modify the Children’s Hearings (Scotland) Act 2011. As a result of the changes, certain individuals, who are curre

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has issued a warning to lawyers after a report highlighted the need for firms to be vigilant when advising on investment schemes following incidents in which poor practice left people at risk of falling victim to dubious schemes. The SRA's report looked at pa

A new bill has been introduced at Holyrood that would provide victims of historical child abuse in care in Scotland the opportunity to apply for financial redress payments of up to £80,000. The Redress for Survivors (Historical Child Abuse in Care) (Scotland) Bill aims to provide tangible reco

A new online resource is being made available to help support people experiencing, or at risk of, domestic abuse. The Domestic Abuse Awareness Raising Tool has been developed in partnership with stakeholders by the domestic abuse charity SafeLives, backed by £10,000 Scottish government investm

The UK Environmental Law Association (UKELA) will hold its annual Scottish conference on Thursday 24 September 2020. Conference topics include environmental standards and governance, decarbonisation and the net-zero target, climate change, aquaculture and duties under the Marine Act. There will also

Benjamin Bestgen discusses the rights of animals in his latest jurisprudential primer. See last week's here. Britain is said to be a nation of pet lovers, with an estimated 50 per cent of British adults having a pet – dogs, cats and rabbits being the most popular. But Britain is also a nation

Dog owners in Germany will be legally required to take their pets outdoors for exercise for half an hour at least twice a day. The new draft law proposes to change animal welfare law to ensure pets are not confined to kennels all day and are given enough outdoor exercise, The Times reports.

The Outer House of the Court of Session has allowed a proof to determine the true creditors of the incorporated joint venture responsible for the construction of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route in an action of multiplepoinding raised at the instance of the joint venture. Of the original 18 def

A survey of members of the Faculty of Advocates has found that there is support for the use of remote hearings as a temporary measure during the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey found that four in five agree that remote hearings are a useful addition to how court hearings are heard in Scotland. However