News

The immigration detention centre at Heathrow Airport has come under fire from an independent watchdog for holding people for "inhumane" periods. A new report from the centre's Independent Monitoring Board (IMB) notes that some detainees have been held for up to four-and-a-half years before being rel

Dame Elish Angiolini DBE QC FRSE has been awarded honorary membership by the Law Society of Scotland. Alison Atack, president of the Law Society of Scotland, said: “I am delighted to award Dame Elish honorary membership of the Law Society of Scotland in our 70th anniversary year. She has had a

The Scotch Whisky Association’s legal team has been awarded the best Not For Profit Organisation Team of the Year at the World Trademark Review Awards in Boston.

Agreements between businesses and individuals occur on a daily basis, but what does it take to make them legally binding? Peter Begbie explains. A written contract is a common – and often most advisable – way of legally formalising an agreement. However, it is also possible to establish

Northern Ireland's Lord Chief Justice, Sir Declan Morgan, indicated yesterday that he is "minded to quash" the search warrants linked to the raids on the homes and office of two Northern Ireland journalists. Journalists Trevor Birney and Barry McCaffrey brought judicial review proceedings to th

Six in 10 people in England and Wales believe the legal system is not designed for ordinary people, new research has found. The research was conducted to mark the launch of the Legal Access Challenge – a new prize run by Nesta Challenges in partnership with the Solicitors Regulation Authority&

A leading Scottish mental health charity has benefited from funds raised on its behalf by staff in the Edinburgh office of Shoosmiths. The latest fun initiatives to support the Scottish Association of Mental Health (SAMH) saw over thirty Shoosmiths’ staff enjoying a social quiz night held in t

A round-up of human rights stories from around the world. Brazil: Supreme Court Votes to Make Homophobia a Crime

A vet has been suspended from the register for six months after stealing a newborn puppy and telling its rightful owners that it died. Zahra Rafiq, 29, delivered a litter of six French bulldogs but told owner Safinah Mhagrh, 29, that five had been delivered and one had died, The Times reports.

A businessman who challenged a Scottish judge’s decision to grant a decree ordering him to conform to a Hong Kong High Court ruling that he make a payout to a former associate has had his appeal dismissed. The Inner House of the Court of Session upheld the decision of the Lord Ordina

A man has pleaded guilty to offences under the new Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act, the first conviction since the new law was introduced on 1 April 2019. William James Murdoch, 43, of Glasgow, made his guilty plea at Glasgow Sheriff Court. He was sentenced yesterday.

The number of commercial rent disputes reaching a third party in Scotland fell to its lowest level for more than five years, according to analysis from Knight Frank. Figures obtained by the independent commercial property consultancy from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) showed th

A coalition of more than 50 civil rights groups, security experts and tech companies including Apple, Google and Microsoft have signed an open letter calling on GCHQ to abandon proposals for eavesdropping on encrypted conversations. Under the so-called "ghost protocol", the providers of end-to-end e

Audrey Junner, a partner at Miller Samuel Hill Brown, has been accredited by the Law Society of Scotland as a specialist in liquor licensing law. The specialist accreditation scheme recognises solicitors who have developed expert knowledge in their field through their experience with complex cases,

Pioneering female academics and Polish ‘soldier students’ are among those who feature in a new book celebrating the teaching of law in Dundee. Dundee Law 1865-1967: The Development of a Law School in a Time of Change, is published by the Abertay Historical Society and written b