Opinion

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

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

In ordinary times, MBM Commercial would celebrate its August birthday alongside clients, sipping drinks and watching festival fireworks from an Edinburgh HQ that has a ringside view over the capital’s historic castle. These are not ordinary times, though, and while the firm, which was spun out

In this protracted period of societal and economic uncertainty, one thing seems certain – change is coming for the North Sea, writes Ross Gardiner. Over the last few years, carbon capture and storage (CCS) has been mentioned increasingly at industry events and workshops as being an important p

The Inner House has agreed that unenforceable parts of an adjudicator’s decision can be ‘severed off’, write Fraser Hopkins and Jilly Petrie. It’s well understood that adjudication is a quick way of resolving construction disputes, on an interim basis at least (albe

Debbie Fellows urges employers and staff to come to an arrangement on how to treat a period of quarantine for employment and pay purposes. Quarantine following travel from Spain and other countries not featured on the Scottish government’s list of exemptions is a legal requirement and employee

Alan McIntosh calls for an extension to emergency laws aimed at helping Scots who are struggling financially in the midst of the pandemic. As Scotland enters phase 3 of the route map to exit the lockdown, there is a danger of being seduced into believing the Scottish economy will bounce back an

Benjamin Bestgen considers 'mind-reading' technology and the law in his latest jurisprudential primer. Read the last one here. Imagine your annual review comes up and your supervisor presents you with a chart, depicting data collected by a little electroencephalogram (EEG) device built into the head

Scotland will struggle to reach its net zero carbon targets unless Holyrood takes a swift and stronger grip on planning policy surrounding the deployment of taller turbine models, as well as a permissive approach to repowering of first-generation onshore windfarms with the latest technology, writes&

As a sports-mad youngster with an obsession for TV show Ally McBeal, Jodi Gordon’s main ambition when she was growing up was to find a job that would allow her to combine her love for both. After studying at the Universities of Aberdeen and Edinburgh and beginning her career at personal injury

In the first of his 'neurolaw' articles, Benjamin Bestgen looks at how the law might accommodate advances in cognitive technology. See his last primer here.  Humans are capable of fascinating feats of observation, empathy and intuition but we cannot read other people’s thoughts. Our thoug

Planning lawyer Ewan MacLeod provides detail on the Scottish government’s consultation on the future of Scottish Planning Policy and the removal of the current presumption in favour of sustainable development. In 2014, the Scottish government introduced a significant change to Scottish Plannin

As Scottish business faces one of the toughest-ever economic climates, employers may be questioning whether diversity and inclusion programmes – viewed by some as ‘nice to have’ rather than essential – should be abandoned, writes Alison Woods. With many employers facing huge

There is a real risk of unintended consequences from this noble attempt to provide greater clarity, transparency and consistency in hate crime law, writes Fred Mackintosh QC of Terra Firma Chambers. The Justice Committee’s call for views on the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill close