Opinion

Arbitration is a commercial, cost-effective and confidential method of resolving disputes. However, with the COVID-19 lockdown impacting court business and creating a backlog of litigation work, arbitration’s flexibility might now be its most valuable attribute, writes Andrew Mackenzie. A

Advocate Ximena Vengoechea examines the need for juries following a failed attempt to remove them from certain cases earlier this year. It is said that we need juries because accused persons have the right to be judged by their peers. It is the way we have done for centuries, after all. The sys

Having thought about truth, Benjamin Bestgen now considers lies. See his last jurisprudential primer here. In Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift lets Captain Gulliver explain to the Houyhnhnms, a race of highly intelligent horses dedicated to reason and truth, that lawyers are: intrinsically c

MacRoberts' director of HR Rupa Mooker challenges law firms to walk the walk, not just talk the talk on diverse recruitment. One of the tweets that stood out to me on Twitter over the last few weeks or so during the #blacklivesmatter social media campaign was one which said “Thank you for your

Michael G. J. Upton, advocate, FSA Scot., MCIArb dates the first attested use in our system of certain words, including some denominal verbs liable to excite the grammatical prescriptivist. The extent of what may be known (or at least read) about the present-day world merely by tapping on your keybo

David Lorimer comments on JUSTICE Scotland's views of last year's mock jury research, which cast doubt on its value as a basis for reform of Scotland's three-verdict system. JUSTICE Scotland has now submitted its response to the Scottish government on the recent Mock Jury Research findings. Whilst n

In this article, Terra Firma's Fred Mackintosh QC considers the source of the legislative powers used in Scotland to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic and whether this could restrict the choices available to the Scottish government about how and when to relax or re-impose lockdown rules. Coronavirus has

For those interested in horology, the law of prescription has seen the pendulum swing wildly from pursuer to defender in a relatively short space of time, writes Jamie Robb. In broad terms, section 6 of the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973 extinguishes certain claims more than five ye

Richard McMeeken details new proposals to deal with the contract law implications of the current crisis. Following a meeting on 7 April 2020 of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law attended by (among others) Lord Neuberger, Lord Phillips, Sir David Edward and Sir William Blair

In the tenth in his series on jurisprudential primers, Benjamin Bestgen looks at how the law might handle cognitive enhancements as new drugs are developed and our perceptions change. The movie Limitless deals with a struggling author who is given a drug that vastly increases his cognitive abil

Nicola Ross explains the details of new legislation aimed at helping ailing businesses.  The Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill was read in UK Parliament at the end of May and is likely to be welcomed by many struggling businesses which are facing potential insolvency due to coronavirus.

Against a backdrop of challenges for criminal law practitioners, Sophie Russell of MTM Defence Lawyers considers the skills set that young lawyers need to develop as firms adapt to the changing nature of criminal law. Many of you may recall the careers fair at university, where a number of larger le

Carole Ewart comments on the much-derided move by the Scottish government to extend FOI response times in the midst of the pandemic – a move that has since been reversed. On April 1, politicians voted to change freedom of information (FOI) law in Scotland. Thankfully, seven weeks later, a unit

From 8 June 2020, anyone entering the UK (whether as a resident or a visitor) will have to self-isolate for 14 days under new government rules. Elaine McIlroy details the latest rules and how they affect employers. Please note that the rules are reviewed every three weeks. Requirement to provid

Michael Reid, managing partner at Aberdeen-based Meston Reid & Co, discusses the suspension of wrongful trading. When the temporary suspension of wrongful trading rules for company directors was announced, the UK government commented that it was designed to help business owners combat the f