Opinion

Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Alain Berset, reflects on the situation in Ukraine ahead of the fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion tomorrow. Tomorrow, 24 February, marks four years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Strikes on homes, schools, hospitals, and ener

Joe Warren, building consultancy partner at Knight Frank, looks ahead to the EPC changes coming into effect later in the year. There are lots of legislative and regulatory difference between Scotland and the rest of the UK. But perhaps one of the most misunderstood differences in property has been t

The Scottish government is considering whether the age at which young people may marry or register a civil partnership should be raised from 16 years old to 18. Writing for Scottish Legal News, Professor Elaine E Sutherland argues that how Scots law addressed the capacity and responsibility of child

Mahbooba Faiz, an Afghan-born lawyer based in Ireland, uncovers the detail of the Taliban's new diktat on criminal procedure. After nearly four years of legislative opacity and rule by decree, on 4 January 2026, the Taliban issued a new legal document in the Pashto language titled the “Crimina

The "sale of solicitors' practices to investment companies" was a danger posed by the Regulation of Legal Services (Scotland) Act 2025 a seminar in Glasgow heard yesterday. The seminar, 'Key Changes, Implications and Next Steps' of the Act, and was held at the Royal Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow

Will Cole surveys recent irritancy cases in the wake of a new judgment. In Scotland, commercial tenants who breach their lease obligations may find their leases terminated by “irritancy”. Since the 1980s, the lease provisions in question have been rendered less draconian by provisions in

The Committee of Heads of Scottish Law Schools responds to an article in Scottish Legal News last year on the use of AI in their institutions. In early December 2025, Corsino San Miguel wrote an article for Scottish Legal News in which, drawing on selected examples from law firms and certain law sch

Employee ownership trusts (EOTs) and other alternative business structures (ABS) are playing an increasingly important role in business succession planning across the UK, writes Douglas Roberts. Nearly 2,500 businesses across the country are now employee owned, representing around 358,000 employee o

Scotland’s land ownership has been transformed over the past two centuries. New guidance on the Scottish government’s land reform mapping tool highlights how communities can begin navigating today’s legal framework, writes Ameeta Panesar. Ownership can divide opinion, with a curren

Advocate Michael Upton FCI Arb updates readers on recent cases in communications law. The ‘new’ Electronic Communications Code came into force at the end of 2017 as a schedule to the Communications Act 2003. It governs telecoms masts and other "electronic communications apparatus"; speci

Carole Ewart, director of the Campaign for Freedom of Information in Scotland, comments on recent developments in Scotland's FOI regime and the need for reform. It’s been 21 years since the legal right to access information became enforceable under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act and

The English Court of Appeal’s decision on 5 January 2026 in Afan Valley Ltd v Lupton Fawcett LLP [2026] EWCA Civ 2 is a major reaffirmation of conventional principles governing loss and scope of duty in professional negligence claims. While under the law of England and Wales, it may well provi

The introduction of juryless trials, with which Scotland has long been threatened, is now being proposed south of the border. Tony Lenehan KC warns against the move. Juryless trials are back in the news, after a UK government proposal to cut back on using juries in certain matters in courts in Engla

The Scottish budget announced on 13 January has sharpened the focus on how tax policy changes influence behaviour in the workplace and the people consequences employers have already witnessed since the UK Budget in November 2025, writes Sarah Jackman. Following the UK's Budget announcement, much att

The rapid development of digital assets and digital currencies has meant that many legal systems, including Scotland’s, have struggled to keep up, writes Andrew Foyle. The application of 17th century principles to modern blockchain technology has exposed gaps in the way that ownership and poss