News

High Court jury trials are to restart in July, the Lord Justice Clerk, Lady Dorrian has announced. Lady Dorrian is leading a working group with representatives from across the justice sector on recommencing jury trials during the lockdown.

A change in the immigration guidance issued by the Home Office is likely to make it much harder for many EU citizens in the UK to become British citizens. Prior to that change, an EU citizen who had acquired “Settled Status”, which gives them “indefinite leave to remain”, cou

A woman has been ordered to remove photos of her grandchildren from her social media accounts after a judge ruled that the matter was covered by the GPDR. The children's mother launched legal proceedings in the Dutch city of Arnhem after her own mother, with whom her relationship broke down a year a

Bill Gates famously said “intellectual property has the shelf life of a banana”. If this suggests he is not a huge fan of intellectual property rights that is certainly not reflected by Microsoft, the company in which he made his fortune. Microsoft has an enormous patent portfolio in exc

ESPC has highlighted how the Scottish property market might move forward after the coronavirus lockdown measures have been eased.

Volkswagen must reimburse motorists who bought vehicles fitted with "defeat devices" designed to cheat emissions tests, Germany's highest civil court has ruled. The Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe yesterday handed down its ruling in a test case brought by Herbert Gilbert, who bought a second-h

Claims have been lodged in courts in Belfast and in London on behalf of easyJet customers affected by the airline's recent data breach. In a statement last week, the airline said that nine million customers had their email addresses and travel details exposed in a data breach notified to the UK auth

Lawrie IP, an independent Scottish intellectual property firm based in Glasgow, has grown its total turnover to £2.6 million from £2.2m in the last year. Dr Donald Lawrie launched Lawrie IP in 2010 and it has expanded steadily with an increase in turnover of almost 200 per cent in t

Scot Dignan has become the first lawyer in the history of the WS Society to be admitted as a Writer to the Signet remotely. Mr Dignan, who is a legal inspector with HM Inspectorate of Prosecution in Scotland, prosecutor, PhD candidate at the University of Strathclyde and a former Lord Hope Scho

A growing number of offenders who avoid custodial sentences are instead being given informal community orders. Figures published by the Ministry of Justice show that nearly three quarters of out of court disposals consisted of community resolution orders last year, an increase of 56 per cent on 2015

A prosecutor has resigned after visiting the home of a journalist in Tokyo to play mahjong during Japan's lockdown. Hiromu Kurokawa, 63, head of the Tokyo High Public Prosecutors Office, gambled with the reporters, according to weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun, in violation of the state-of-emergency m

Wedding venues are potentially breaking the law by exploiting unfair terms and conditions to avoid refunding couples for cancellations due to coronavirus, a new Which? investigation reveals. Many frustrated couples have contacted Which? as they are struggling to get refunds, often worth tens of thou

Parks in the poorer districts of northern and eastern Paris have reopened for visitors during the coronavirus pandemic thanks to a serial lockpicker. A mystery man who goes by the name "Jose" spoke to Le Parisien about his nightly efforts to unlock parks which remain shut despite the easing of the C

Though he studied law at university, Patrick McGuire never really wanted to be a lawyer. Politics was his first love and, while he had enjoyed the intellectual rigour of his studies, he had imagined himself entering the political rather than the legal sphere. Joining personal injury specialist Thomp

A prisoner in HMP Glenochil serving nearly 20 years in custody has been refused permission for judicial review of a decision of the Scottish Ministers not to move him into less secure prison conditions. Lee Brown, who would remain in prison until 2024 without early release, argued that he should hav