News

Scotland’s national drink has secured enhanced legal protection in South Korea after the Scotch Whisky Association’s application to register “Scotch Whisky” as a certification trademark was successful. Amongst other things, Scotch Whisky must be aged in oak casks in Scotland

The Scottish Arbitration Centre has announced its new Ambassador scheme. The ambassadors consist of 28 Scottish practitioners working mainly in arbitration from around the world.

Hilary Peppiette writes about a legal organisation that supports the elderly and how practitioners in Scotland can get involved. Solicitors for the Elderly (SFE) is a group of solicitors and paralegals who specialise in providing support and advice to older people and to people who may be vulnerable

A court had to be closed after sewage from a faulty toilet flooded the reception area. A ceiling was also reported to be “stained brown” with dirty water at Dundee Sheriff Court.

Ten business-minded solicitors gathered at Harper Macleod's Glasgow office for the start-up meeting of the Legal Entrepreneurs' Breakfast Club last week. The Breakfast Club was set up by HM Connect, a support and referral network for law firms in Scotland, to help unlock the entrepreneurial vision o

Students and school pupils attended the Faculty of Advocates' Open Day this week. They are pictured above listening to opening remarks from Clerk of Faculty, Richard Pugh.

A court's austere atmosphere was transformed when a singing group used the venue to perform a comic operetta – with a legal theme. Ugie Voices took over Peterhead Sheriff Court to stage a version of the Gilbert and Sullivan Trial By Jury, The Press and Journal reports.

A Magic Circle law firm has increased its starting salary for junior solicitors to £100,000. Solicitors qualifying at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer this year will benefit from the £15,000 increase over last year's figure.

A former Uber driver was an employee of the taxi company rather than an independent contractor, a Swiss court has ruled for the first time. Lawyer Remy Wyler told AFP that the ruling from Lausanne Labour Court was the first of its kind in Switzerland.

The Chief Justice of India, Ranjan Gogoi has been cleared of sexual harassment allegations after an inquiry ruled there was no substance to the accusations – as it withheld its report. Mr Gogoi previously claimed the accusations were "false" and intended to "destabilise the judiciary".

Magic mushrooms would be effectively decriminalised under proposals to be put to a local referendum. Citizens of Denver in the US state of Colorado will be asked to vote on a measure banning officials from "spending resources to impose criminal penalties" for the use or possession of the psychedelic

A Polish national convicted of a series of offences and accused of other crimes in his home country who claimed that extradition to Poland would breach his human rights has had his legal challenge dismissed in a test case. Patryk Maciejec, 27, argued that new laws and procedures brought in by t

The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) is likely to be investigated over alleged failures as part of an inquiry into historical child abuse, The Sunday Times reports. The Crown Office said it anticipates being part of the Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry's (SCAI) investigation.

Two solicitor advocates with Brodies have been appointed by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), to its panel of counsel in Scotland. The EHRC in Scotland works to eliminate discrimination, reduce inequality, protect and promote human rights, build good relations between people and

More than £1 million has been clawed back from fraudsters selling puppies on the black market in Scotland. A taskforce established by HMRC in 2015 to tackle the problem found people selling the dogs on a mass scale for large, undeclared profits.