Features

It's the subject of poems and songs and even has a statue devoted to its memory – Kate Scarborough tells the story of the famous 'Turra Coo'. At the beginning of the 20th century, the government introduced the National Insurance Act 1911, which required employers to make compulsory contributio

When the Supreme Court gave its decision in long-running matrimonial dispute Villiers v Villiers this month it handed a significant victory to Edinburgh law firm SKO Family Law. Led by partner Rachael Kelsey – the K in SKO – the firm represented Mrs Villiers in a matter that had sought t

Graham Ogilvy reports on new research by US historian Kenyon Zimmer identifying for the first time some of the Scottish trade unionists caught up in America’s first Red Scare. They were the targets of America’s first Red Scare when, following a campaign against immigrants that would make

A routine Friday morning turned “surreal” for members of Faculty and staff when the Dalai Lama paid an unannounced visit. On 22 June, 2012, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism was on a UK tour, and had engagements in the Signet Library and the National Library of Scotland in Edinbur

Graham Ogilvy enjoys a new presentation of the famous denouement of demagogue Joe McCarthy at the hands of Boston lawyer Joseph N Welch. It is an epic moment in American legal history that played out live on US television – and now new light is shed on the withering exchanges between veteran B

Terra Firma's new call Jon Kiddie reviews a much needed day-to-day practical book on judicial review. Published at the very end of 2019, this is an excellent book, and worthy of recommendation to a broad range of readers: law students, solicitors, solicitor advocates, and counsel — whether the

As someone who was inspired to become a lawyer after watching Granada TV show Crown Court, Claire Mitchell QC has always loved the drama of advocacy. “Crown Court was my first experience of the legal process and of true crime – I know it wasn’t true, but I was watching it as if it

Though he studied law at university, Patrick McGuire never really wanted to be a lawyer. Politics was his first love and, while he had enjoyed the intellectual rigour of his studies, he had imagined himself entering the political rather than the legal sphere. Joining personal injury specialist Thomp

May 8th 2020 marked the 75th anniversary of VE Day – the end of the Second World War in Europe. During the six long years of conflict, the WS Society kept a scrapbook of news about Writers to the Signet in service at home and abroad. James Hamilton introduces this poignant resource. One mornin

SLN's editor reviews Trials of the State: Law and the Decline of Politics by Jonathan Sumption. Though apt to be caricatured as some sort of anti-judge in the post-prorogation world, iconoclast jurist Jonathan Sumption—in this, his first popular legal book—echoes Montesquieu wh

Robert Pirrie WS, chief executive of the WS Society, tells the story of William Roughead, the Edinburgh lawyer who became the father of the ‘true crime’ genre and the celebrated trial for murder of Miss Madelaine Smith. Amongst the many remarkable collections of the Signet Library,

When Dundee United Football Club were named winners of the SPFL Championship last week it should have been cause for serious celebration. It is not every day, after all, that a club gets to claim promotion to the Premiership. Yet as Laura McCallum, head of football administration and legal affairs a

It all could have been so different for MML Legal partner Ryan Russell, an employment specialist who has won countless high-profile cases on behalf of wronged employees.  During his studies at Dundee University, Mr Russell formed a band that enjoyed some early success, leading the budding lawye

This week marks the 30th anniversary of the world’s largest unsolved art theft, in which 13 pieces worth around $500 million, including paintings by famous artists such as Rembrandt, Vermeer, Degas and Manet, were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

When Pinsent Masons was last night crowned Stonewall Scotland’s Workplace Diversity Champion for the second year running, it was in no small part down to the work done by senior associate Craig Macphee. Indeed, with the construction sector specialist promoting the firm’s LGBT inclusion w