Features

Harper Macleod senior associate Lesley Montague examines third party rights under Scots common law. The landscape of third party rights in Scots law has changed significantly since the Contract (Third Party Rights) (Scotland) Act 2017 came into force. However, that legislation is not retrospective a

Naomi Pryde examines the opportunities for Scotland's space sector. Scotland aims to be Europe’s leading space nation, with ambitious plans outlined in the Scottish Government’s Space Strategy. The space industry heralds endless commercial opportunities. According to the Bank of America,

What are we likely to see on employment law if Labour wins the next general election? Nicola Macara lays out her predictions. The next UK general election must be held no later than 28 January 2025. The Prime Minister’s working assumption is that it will take place in the second half of this y

Corey Beaton considers the progress women in law have made and the barriers that still remain for them. When we consider the gender balance of our lecture halls, it is hard to imagine a time when women were not permitted to study the law, nor indeed to go on and practise it, yet it has only been jus

Shelter Scotland, which acted on behalf of the appellants in the case of Manson and Downie v Turner and Turner, highlights the significance of the Upper Tribunal's decision in relation to the correct approach to assessing reasonableness specifically in relation to ground 1 and the wid

Readers may recall an article published on 1 November 2023 summarising a decision of the All-Scotland Sheriff Personal Injury Court regarding QOCS protection in a multi-defender action. That decision has now been overturned – Steven Smart analyses the appeal case. The pursuer argued that QOCS

Dr Larysa Zhdankina, a Ukrainian lawyer exiled in Scotland, writes about the need for justice for child victims of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It is estimated by the online platform Children of War, that for the period from February 24, 2022 to February 13, 2024, 526 children were killed and a

The UK’s Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has indicated that it intends to utilise existing but less commonly used powers to grant immunity notices to offenders who assist in its cases, and support reduced sentences to defendants who provide evidence to enable other prosecutions, writes Tom Stocker.

Robert Shiels is impressed by a new history of opium which paints a fascinating picture of an ancient trade with a profound impact on modern society. Opium has its own history and this discursive study by novelist Amitav Ghosh, moving into factual history, concentrates on individual aspects of the o

John Sturrock looks at how legislative scrutiny at Holyrood might be improved. One of the difficulties which the Scottish Parliament has encountered is that legislation has on occasion been found, after passage through Parliament and in some cases implementation, to be in some way ineffective, inade

Stuart Munro provides an update on the Horizon scandal. Less than a week after the broadcast, on 10 January 2024, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak promised to introduce legislation to overturn all convictions resulting from the Horizon IT scandal – a so-called ‘mass-exoneration’ scheme.

As part of reforms to land ownership in Scotland, a new publicly accessible register with the details of anyone who controls decision-making on management, use, or development of land has been created and will come into force on 1 April 2024. Petra Grunenberg has the details. As part of the Sco

Emma Curryer (lecturer in law) and Gillian Mawdsley (associate law lecturer, Criminal Justice Clinic, and the Open University) explain the details of vicarious trauma training. For students who were undertaking our pro bono clinical legal education project, we identified a need for providing vicario

Lawyers from Shepherd and Wedderburn's Pride Network write on this year's LGBT+ History Month topic of medicine. The theme selected by Schools OUT, a UK charity that promotes LGBT equality in education, for LGBT+ History Month 2024 is ‘Medicine - #UnderTheScope’. The aim of this selectio

Andrew Foyle takes a look at litigation trends in the UK. Shoosmiths recently published its report on major trends in UK litigation. Drawing on feedback from 360 general counsel/senior-in-house lawyers working in businesses with a £100m+ turnover, I believe the report makes very significant re