News

The criminal bar is "ready" if the promises the UK government made to it this year over revised fee rates for Crown Court work are not honoured, the head of their body has said. Carmelite Chambers' Chris Henley QC, 51, the new chairman of the 4,000-member Criminal Bar Association (CBA), to

A man has been jailed for spraying a pesticide which led to the death of dozens of bee colonies. The 47-year-old man spread chloropyrifos over trees on his property which were attracting bees.

The Supreme Court has ruled a bakery's refusal to supply a cake iced with the message ‘Support Gay Marriage’ was not discriminatory on the grounds of sexual orientation, as the refusal was based on the message and not to any particular person. The court also held that the 

Blackadders has reinforced its management board with the election of two new partners to the group. Emma Gray and Petra Grunenberg assume their new roles immediately and will support the further growth and development of Blackadders’ business plan.

Three members of the Faculty of Advocates have been appointed as full-time advocate deputes in the Crown Office. Eric Robertson, Derick Nelson and Greg Farrell all served as ad hoc prosecutors in recent months, and have now joined the resident team of Crown counsel in Chambers Street.

Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf has hailed progress on a strategy to "create safer and more resilient" communities across Scotland. Mr Yousaf thanked partners for the work done to achieve a number of key justice outcomes as part of an annual update.

David Hossack extols the benefits of mediation following the recent publication of a report from Holyrood. I read with great interest the recently issued report of the Justice Committee of the Scottish Parliament entitled "I won't see you in court: alternative dispute resolution in Scotland". As a p

Zaynab Al Nasser, a senior solicitor at Turcan Connell, has been appointed president of Scottish Women in Business (SWIB), a networking group for business women in the west of Scotland.  Her plans for the year are centred around change, both in terms of how SWIB operates and supporting mem

Westwater Advocates is celebrating the service of Christina Ballantyne, who today marks the outstanding achievement of 35 years' work with Faculty Services Ltd. Ms Ballantyne began her career with a two-month spell in the mailroom before she was quickly promoted to the accounts team, where

A recent decision in the Court of Session underlines the importance of adhering to the statutory time limits in raising personal injury actions, writes Mike Kemp. The general rule is that a personal injury claim should be either settled by agreement or a court action raised and served on the defende

Law firms and other employers have taken action to tackle mental health stigma as part of World Mental Health Day today. ScotRail, Apex Hotels, engineering company Babcock and Burness Paull LLP have joined together with the See Me programme, to highlight the potential impact of mental health stigma

A new partnership dedicated to tackling rural crime in the north east and improving safety in remote communities has been launched. The North East Scotland Rural Crime & Safety Partnership is comprised of more than 20 partners involved in rural affairs who have pledged a commitment to sharing th

Thorntons Solicitors recently visited Kingspark Primary School in Dundee to donate a batch of iPads which will help with weekly classroom activities.

A court in Madrid has found that a former doctor took a newborn baby from its mother during the Franco era and gave it away in the first trial of the "stolen babies" scandal. While he was found guilty, the incident occurred too long ago for 85-year-old Eduardo Vela to be convicted.

A claimant was reprimanded in Dublin Circuit Civil Court after addressing the judge as "love". James Flynn, 46, had been addressing defence counsel Adrianne Fields as "love" but was sharply rebuked when he did the same to Judge Sarah Berkeley.