Features

It is an ideal moment to pause and reflect on what has been an intriguing and evolving year for the property market across Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and the Borders, writes ESPC CEO Paul Hilton. At the close of 2024, the market was buoyant. Activity levels were high, and we saw strong momentum c

In civil disputes, the outcome of court proceedings will often hinge on key evidence that is in the possession of the respondent party, write Philip Knight, Jack Mullen and Hannah Johnston. If this evidence has the potential to reveal wrongdoing, pursuing parties may naturally worry that giving noti

Tucked away in the gallery of the coffee lounge library in the Royal Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow building lies a remarkable and often overlooked piece of the city’s legal and social history: the mortification boards. These black-painted wooden panels, with their gilt lettering and formal

Recent headlines have reignited debate over the lack of regulation for expert witnesses in both civil and criminal cases. But amid calls for tighter oversight, it’s worth asking whether formal regulation would fix the problem or just add another layer of bureaucracy, writes Christine Rolland.

To a greater or lesser extent, everyone suffered during the Covid-19 pandemic. Questions are now coming before civil courts in the UK on whether the suffering of some was caused, in law, by the fault or negligence of others, writes Toni Ashby. Questions of causation can be some of the most interesti

Sebastian Smee’s Paris in Ruins: Love, War, and the Birth of Impressionism was published last year to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the first exhibition by 30 artists who rebelled against the stultifying grip of the French art establishment and who jointly ushered in the age of the Im

Scotland is often aligned with England and Wales when it comes to the law, but not always – it has a truly unique, hybrid legal system. This can make dealing with Scottish legal proceedings daunting, which is why Shepherd and Wedderburn has created its Handling Disputes in Scotland video serie

In a significant judgment handed down on 10 June 2025, the Court of Session has clarified the complex relationship between insurance policy avoidance and insurers’ rights to recover settlement payments, writes Robyn Coates. The case of Ian Whyte v David Arthur and UK Insurance Limited [2025] C

Recently caught up in the Iberian power failure, Robert Shiels, ponders on the lessons of Oliver Letwin’s prophetic book on the subject. This small book bobbed along for four years after publication, perhaps un-noticed, or ignored in part due to the argument around potential disasters, and pos

Dr Anni Donaldson (School of Social Work and Social Policy, University of Strathclyde), Dr Mary Neal (School of Law, University of Strathclyde) and Professor David Albert Jones (Director, Anscombe Bioethics Centre), experts in domestic abuse, law, and medical ethics, argue that the risk of coercion

Dr Anni Donaldson (School of Social Work and Social Policy, University of Strathclyde), Dr Mary Neal (School of Law, University of Strathclyde) and Professor David Albert Jones (Director, Anscombe Bioethics Centre), experts in domestic abuse, law, and medical ethics, argue that the risk of coercion

Retailers are continuing to be hit hard by ransomware attacks, with North Face and Cartier being the latest to report that their customer personal data has been stolen. This comes fresh off the back of reported incidents affecting Adidas, Victoria's Secret, Harrods, and most notably, M&S and the

David J Black reviews a brace of new books on Edinburgh, ‘Scotia’s darling seat’. Alistair Moffat’s A New History of Edinburgh could best be described as a quixotically compelling, if not always satisfying, read. A prolific writer with a well-known background in television, t

SSSTs – does conversion have a permanent effect on the tenancy? This is the question the Sheriff Court grappled with in a recent RSL eviction action, writes Claire Mullen. In this case, the Scottish Secure Tenancy (SST) had been converted to a short SST, and then back again to an SST.

The history of the harms caused by asbestos is a long and painful one. Since the start of the large-scale commercial exploitation of the mineral in the 19th century, evidence of its damaging effects has been noted and well documented. In the United Kingdom diseases caused by dust exposure were among