News

Nearly 2,000 prosecution barristers in England and Wales have said they are open to taking action – including refusing to take on new work – in a dispute over remuneration and workload. The Criminal Bar Association (CBA) revealed that 95 per cent of the over 2,000 prosecution barristers

Scottish lawyer Polly Higgins, an internationally-renowned environmentalist, has passed away at the age of 50. Ms Higgins studied at Aberdeen University, Utrecht University and the University of Glasgow, but practised as a barrister in England, The Herald reports.

James Lloyd, partner at Harper Macleod, writes on how people are being caught out by the requirement for homeowners to remortgage or sell their property at the end of a trust deed to realise the capital. Scotland offers several statutory debt consolidation and payment schemes for those who find them

The Scottish Young Lawyers' Association (SYLA) will host its Annual General Meeting at Shepherd and Wedderburn's Edinburgh headquarters next month. Delegates to the AGM, taking place on Thursday 16 May, will hear updates from SYLA's president and treasurer on the past year's activities, consider ame

Advocate and family law expert Kirsty Malcolm will deliver a Glasgow seminar on cohabitation next month, hosted by Jones Whyte Law. The seminar, "Increase in Cohabitation and the difficulties arising in these specialist cases", is aimed at lawyers who have dealings with cohabitation issues, includin

A leading expert in forensic science will join Brian McConnachie QC at an event tonight to discuss how someone could face prosecution for firing a gun they have never touched. Dr Hervé Ménard, principal investigator at the University of Dundee's Leverhulme Research Centre for Forensic

The Society of Solicitors in the Supreme Courts of Scotland (SSC) is delighted to announce that Esther Roberton, author of Fit For The Future, the report of the Independent Review of Legal Services Regulation in Scotland is to speak at an open meeting on Thursday 16 May. SSC president Douglas Thomso

Families across Dundee, Angus, Fife, Perth and Kinross and Edinburgh were given a welcome boost this Easter thanks to Thorntons Solicitors and Hillcrest Housing Association. Colleagues and the general public have been donating Easter eggs and chocolates to be gifted to families through local foodban

Two students in Italy have been fined €27 million by forest authorities after allegedly letting a barbecue start a forest fire. The administration sanction was handed down by the forestry service based on the area of land which was affected and its value per square metre.

Dozens of people who were allegedly involved in breaking bones and staging car accidents as part of a massive insurance fraud have been arrested. Thirty-four suspects are accused of taking part in a major scam whereby they inflicted serious injuries on people in exchange for part of their insurance

The former leader of the Scottish Labour Party who was accused of defamation over a newspaper article in which she described a social media comment published online by a pro-independence blogger as “homophobic” has successfully defended a legal action against her. Stuart Campbell, publis

Lawyers John Paul Sheridan and Karen Cornwell of TLT have been awarded specialist accreditation in professional negligence for a further five years by the Law Society of Scotland. The Society introduced the scheme in 1990 to recognise solicitors who have developed specialist knowledge during their c

Scottish law firm Burness Paull has reported profits of £23.8 million on turnover of £57.6 million for the year to July 2018. Latest results filed with Companies House have revealed the firm’s highest-earning partner enjoyed a profit share of £634,000 with

A new fully digital process for simple procedure cases is ready to be rolled out next Thursday, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) has said. Civil Online was initially introduced in March last year to allow parties to track the progress of cases in court and was further enhanced in Dec

A retired Supreme Court justice has said there is "no moral obligation to obey the law" in a major intervention over the legality of assisted suicide. Jonathan Sumption QC, who retired from the Supreme Court bench last December, said he believed the law "should be broken from time to time".