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A long-awaited review of protections for vulnerable witnesses in the investigation and prosecution of sexual offences in Ireland has backed proposals for anonymity to be extended to defendants in all sexual assault trials, as well as greater supports for complainants. The review, chaired by Tom O&rs

A merger between two suppliers of retail investment platform solutions has been provisionally blocked by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) as it could be anti-competitive. FNZ purchased GBST in November 2019. According to the CMA, their merger could lead to UK consumers who rely

Morton Fraser has become only the sixth business out of more than 350,000 headquartered in Scotland to join the 30% Club. The 30% Club sets targets for gender representation at board and executive committee levels amongst the FTSE 350 and asks all members to embrace fully inclusive cultures that con

An arbitrary and long-standing ban on aspiring lawyers in Texas bringing their own menstrual products to the bar exam has been lifted following renewed criticism. Law professors in the state wrote to the Texas Board of Law Examiners last month, highlighting a national plea from nearly 3,000 law prof

A patent for a monitoring apparatus for handheld power tools has been held to be valid following a challenge of its validity in a patent infringement case.  Reactec Ltd originally brought an action against Curotec Team Ltd seeking interdict against patent infringement on the grou

The new Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Advocates is Ronnie Renucci QC. The post of Vice-Dean became vacant when Roddy Dunlop QC was elected Dean of Faculty last month. Following a ballot between last Friday morning and 3pm today, Mr Renucci was elected by members of Faculty in a two-way contest with Ly

Even by the standards of today’s enfeebled and anaemic media, the lack of coverage of the death of Clive Ponting who passed away last week at his home in Kelso is remarkable. It is also lamentable. Ponting was a young, high-flying civil servant who could not live with the lie Margaret Thatcher

Innes Clark looks at redundancy and the right to appeal, which is not as clear cut as you might have thought. An appeal against a decision to make an employee redundant appears in many, if not most, company redundancy procedures. While the ACAS Code of Practice on Disciplinary and Grievanc

The European Commission has opened an in-depth investigation to assess the proposed $2.1 billion acquisition of Fitbit by Google under the EU Merger Regulation. The Commission is concerned that the proposed transaction would further entrench Google's market position in the online advertising markets

The Supreme Court ought to be abolished and have its functions transferred to an appeal court comprising judges drawn from the UK's three legal jurisdictions, a senior barrister and academic has suggested. In a paper for the Policy Exchange think tank, Derrick Wyatt QC, emeritus professor of law at

The challenge to the Inverclyde Local Development Plan by five leading house builders and developers has been successful. In MacTaggart and Mickel Homes Limited and Others v Inverclyde Council and Another [2020] CSIH 44, the Inner House of the Court of Session quashed the housing chapter of the Inve

Almost £4 million has been allocated by the Drug Deaths Taskforce to projects to support its work reducing harm and deaths. The taskforce has announced the Scottish government funding for research and front-line services to help tackle the drug deaths public health emergency over the next year

Gordon MacLure details the steps businesses can take now to get some breathing space as the HMRC's preferential creditor status has now been restored. HMRC’s secondary preferential creditor status was restored on 22 July 2020 when the Finance Act 2020 received Royal Assent. This makes HMR

In his latest jurisprudential primer, the third on neurolaw, Benjamin Bestgen details more technologies on the horizon which the law will have to get to grips with, including 'brainhacking' and 'memory engineering'. In the “Morty’s Mindblowers” episode of the cartoon seri

A mother who allegedly dug a ten-metre-long, three-metre-tall tunnel in a bid to break her son out of prison has been arrested. Police believe that the 51-year-old woman had been working on the tunnel in southern Ukraine for at least three weeks before being caught.