Reading time: 3 minutes
The juryless trials pilot would not take place until late 2028, Justice Secretary Angela Constance has said. Ms Constance said she would listen to the concerns of the legal profession and MSPs about the proposals contained in the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Bill.
Reading time: 1 minute
Dentons has announced the appointment of 12 new partners globally, including two in Glasgow. The promotions take effect on 1 May. Over the past 12 months, the firm has also recruited nine new partners across the London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dublin and Abu Dhabi offices.
1 minute
Ann Stewart has been appointed to the Scottish Law Commission. Ms Stewart, a solicitor and professional support lawyer specialising in commercial property, is a member of the Law Society of Scotland’s Property Law Committee and Property and Land Law Reform Committee.
1 minute
Balfour and Manson has promoted two of its senior associate solicitors from its property and private client teams in Aberdeen to partner, effective from 1 April 2024. The two new partners are Amy McKay and Greg Lawson.
2 minutes
Lindsays has named Susan Law as its new head of rural. She succeeds Michael Yellowlees, who has led the team since 2008 and remains a partner.
2 minutes
CMS has announced partner promotions within its Glasgow and Aberdeen offices. The newly promoted partners include Glasgow-based Fiona Letham, head of the CMS legal services unit (LSU), a key component of the firm’s alternative resourcing offering which features over 100 paralegals.
2 minutes
Thorntons has announced the appointment of seven newly qualified solicitors, all of whom have completed the firm's two-year traineeship programme. Sean Lieder and Hannah Smethurst have joined the firm’s corporate team in Edinburgh, and Walter Buckman has joined the corporate team in Glasgow.
Reading time: 3 minutes
The number of criminal legal aid solicitors dropped from 1,459 in 2007 to 966, the Scottish Solicitors Bar Association (SSBA) has said as it warned the system was heading for collapse. The Scottish government's public spend on legal aid has declined by 45 per cent, allowing for inflation, over the p
2 minutes
The Scottish government’s 2024-25 budget continues its distorted and shortsighted approach to criminal justice, according to the Law Society of Scotland. The budget papers reveal an extra £22 million has been provided to the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), while the f
2 minutes
The Scottish Legal Aid Board has confirmed that as at 1 June 2023 there were 975 lawyers on the Criminal Legal Aid Register, following a freedom of information request by the Scottish Solicitors Bar Association (SSBA). Of those 975, however, 238 received no payment for criminal legal aid in the year
3 minutes
Criminal barristers in Northern Ireland are to stage a one-day strike on Friday 17 November 2023 in an escalating dispute over delays in legal aid payments. The local Criminal Bar Association (CBA) previously balloted members on a withdrawal of services in response to “unprecedented and worsen
2 minutes
Scotland's legal aid system "can't cope" with demand and there is a risk of a "total collapse of justice in Scotland", a senior criminal defence lawyer has said after being unable to find counsel for a serious High Court case. Ian Moir, partner at Moir and Sweeney Litigation, tweeted on Friday that
Reading time: 2 minutes
University of Aberdeen diploma students Ailsa Gardyne and Callum Leeson have beaten off international teams to win a prestigious legal competition in Poland. The pair were victorious in the national round of the Scottish Client Consultation Competition in February, earning them a place in the Brown
1 minute
Katia Sher and Emma Kolbuc have won this year's Internal Mooting Competition at the University of Dundee. Throughout the competition, organised annually by the university's Mooting Society, participants tackle a range of complex legal issues, including topics such as duty of care and medic
1 minute
Edinburgh Law School remains in the QS World University Rankings’ top 25 law schools for the fifth consecutive year. The rankings placed the law school at 20th in the world and it remains ranked 6th in the UK and 1st in Scotland.
1 minute
Strathclyde University's Professor Elisa Morgera has been appointed as a UN special rapporteur on climate change and human rights. She will work closely with UN member states on climate change's impact on people’s human rights.
1 minute
London South Bank University has become the first in the UK to guarantee LLB students professional work experience as part of their degree. Every LLB student at the university will be given the opportunity to work in one of five clinics through what it calls its 'Law Clinic Guarantee'.
Reading time: 1 minute
A man who perpetrated a massive psychic mass-mailing fraud scheme which stole more than $175 million from over 1.3 million victims has been jailed for 10 years. Over two decades, Patrice Runner, 57, sent millions of letters purporting to be individualised, personal communications from well-known so-
1 minute
Fatal motorcycle accidents have skyrocketed in a US state since it repealed a mandatory helmet law. Since Missouri scrapped a law requiring motorcyclists to wear a helmet in 2020, fatalities have increased by 47 per cent, Kansas City Public Radio reports.
2 minutes
The wrong couple were divorced after solicitors made a computer error. "Mr and Mrs Williams" were married for 21 years until separating in 2023. But they had not yet sought a divorce.
1 minute
A teenager has landed in hot water after allegedly impersonating his school headteacher and faxing a resignation letter to school authorities. The 17-year-old student at a New York high school was arrested and now faces a charge of criminal impersonation, WSAZ NewsChannel 3 reports.
1 minute
An American politician has been gently admonished for accidentally leaving a loaded firearm in a state legislature bathroom. Don Wilson, a Republican member of the Colorado House of Representatives, apparently placed the 9mm Glock handgun on a shelf and forgot about it, NBC News reports.
SUBSCRIBE
