News

Over the past three months, independent charity Crimestoppers has received a record number of reports from the public across Scotland on domestic abuse, drug dealing and child harm and neglect. In response to lockdown across Scotland, the charity ran a series of public awareness campaigns to highlig

Brian McConnachie QC has reflected on the success of the first trial since lockdown in Glasgow, saying we must "ensure that trial by jury survives the pandemic as it survived [the] World Wars". Mr McConnachie tweeted that while it was "odd at first to see an empty jury box" it quickly became "incons

An enthusiastic graduate who has unfortunately been made redundant is seeking a role in Edinburgh or West Lothian. Damon Allan was awarded a first class LLB (hons.) degree in 2018 from the University of Edinburgh, with an Erasmus year at Universiteit Leiden, in the Netherlands. He received his diplo

Gillespie Macandrew has secured over £2 million of emergency funding for business clients in the last month. The firm’s banking and finance practice has advised on a number of government-backed emergency loans designed to help SMEs remain afloat during the coronavirus pandemic.

Following a webinar presentation by Terra Firma's Jon Kiddie on the topic of homelessness and judicial review, a discussion arose on a question he had posed over the suitability of judicial review for challenging local authority decisions on homelessness. The consensus indicated a concern that

Two of Blackadders' private client solicitors, Rachael Delaney and Robyn Lee, gained top marks in the STEP Advanced Certificate in Trusts: Law & Practice (Scotland). The STEP qualification is regarded as the most comprehensive and relevant qualification in the trusts and estates field. Ongoing m

A goat has been arrested for wandering around without wearing a mask. The animal was roaming freely when it was picked up by police in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and taken to a local police station.

A local authority has been granted an interdict against the sale of a farm in West Calder on the basis that a right of pre-emption contained in a feu disposition had survived the abolition of feudal tenure in Scotland. West Lothian Council raised the action against the executors of George

Scottish Labour has expressed 'serious reservations' over the Scottish government's proposed Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill. Justice spokesperson James Kelly's submission to the Justice Committee in response to its call for views highlights a number of areas within the bill with pa

Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf has called for an urgent four-nation ministerial meeting on fisheries and maritime security after being excluded from the UK government’s Brexit preparation talks. Writing to the UK Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, Mr Yousaf has complained that devolved governme

Grampian, Highland and Islands Sheriff Principal Derek Pyle, has ‘locked up’ and handed over the keys of Inverness Castle, closing the door on more than 180 years as the sheriff courthouse for Inverness.

Scotland will struggle to reach its net zero carbon targets unless Holyrood takes a swift and stronger grip on planning policy surrounding the deployment of taller turbine models, as well as a permissive approach to repowering of first-generation onshore windfarms with the latest technology, writes&

A former Nazi concentration camp guard has been found guilty of complicity in the murder of more than 5,000 prisoners. Bruno Dey, 93, was given a two-year suspended sentence following a nine-month trial in a juvenile court as he was 17 at the time of the murders, which were carried out between Augus

The Northern Ireland Executive should be "very slow to interfere" with the current 12-person jury in criminal trials in the face of the COVID-19 backlog, an experienced criminal lawyer has said. According to newspaper reports a reduction in the size of juries from 12 to seven or nine is one of

Two of Anderson Strathern’s private client solicitors have been awarded Worldwide Excellence Awards from the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP). Laura Murray achieved the best grade across all four papers in the Scottish Trust and Executry Accounting exam and was the highest-scor