Opinion

Gavin Buchan discusses how the rise of new finance possibilities is a positive development for all. When anything crashes and burns, there is often something that rises from the ashes. Since the economy emerged from the other side of the global financial crisis, that something has been a range

Katy Wedderburn and Kirsty Fryer look at the 2020 gender pay gap regime. On 8th March 2019, the Scottish government published its first gender pay gap action plan which aims to further reduce the gender pay gap in Scotland by 2021. It is reported that in 2018, the gender pay gap for full-time employ

Lynda Towers takes a look at what the Children (Scotland) Bill might mean for Scotland’s youth. The Children (Scotland) Bill is currently at stage 1 in the Scottish Parliament and continues the current government's emphasis on improving rights and protections for children in Scotland. This bil

The case of Dickie & Moore Limited v The trustees of the Lauren McLeish Discretionary Trust is a good example of how, sometimes, a scattergun approach is best used to try to resist an adjudicator’s award, writes Greg Flett. In this action, an adjudicator determined that Dickie & Moore,

Ewan McIntyre is a consultant to Burness Paull and expert in professional negligence and financial services litigation with over 25 years’ experience. He is currently enjoying a secondment with Racine, one of the main independent French law firms, in its Lyon office. There are risks to keeping

David Bell considers unfair prejudice claims in business disputes and how the role of the forensic accountant can play a part in resolving these. There has been an increase in unfair prejudice claims in the last few years and they always bring out interesting and challenging issues from a forensic

Julie Hamilton considers the role of mediation in commercial litigation and whether the flexibility it offers may be the route to avoiding, or at least limiting, the disputes that get to court. What is mediation?

25 November 2019 might later be judged a significant date for supporting victims of crime in Scotland. Nobody would dispute that victims of crime should receive support, but opinion may be divided on the fairest way to fund that. Scottish judges and sheriffs will soon have no option but to impose an

Briton Steve Easterbrook, credited with adding huge value to the McDonald’s fast food business during his tenure as US chief executive, has lost the top job he has held since 2015. Easterbrook worked his way up through the UK business, starting in 1993 and became its head of operations in this

The BackTo60 campaign group has lost a significant case against the government regarding its decision to raise the state pension age of women. The High Court disagreed with the campaigners that the pension changes discriminated against women. Instead the court took the view that the changes were mad

It is certainly an interesting time for the renewables industry in Scotland. Despite ongoing political (and consequent economic) uncertainty, the revival of the on-shore wind sector following the post Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs) downturn continues apace, and shows no sign of slowing do

There are two new cases, both of which develop the jurisprudence on the use of the inherent jurisdiction of the courts in child law matters, and both matters in which SKO has acted. Judgment in NY (A Child) was handed down by the Supreme Court yesterday with SKO acting pro bono for one the intervene

The infamous ‘backstop’ is gone, but the new Irish Protocol could lead to the indefinite jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union within the United Kingdom, writes Oliver Garner of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law. The new Protocol on Ireland/N

The issue of whether foster carers are to be regarded as local authority employees and therefore be accorded rights associated with such a position is emotive, but is also extremely important to see resolved, writes Alasdair Docwra. Foster carers are volunteers, who play an absolutely vital rol

Johan Findlay JP OBE looks at the history of women on the JP bench. It is 100 years since the death of Sir Hugh Munro, the Scottish mountaineer best known for listing and climbing mountains in Scotland over 3,000 feet, known now as Munros.