News

The US Navy has finally abandoned an archaic practice of locking misbehaving sailors up with only bread and water to eat. The punishment was scrapped by the British Navy in 1891 but has only now come to an end in the US.

A woman who was injured in a road traffic accident when a car she was travelling in was struck by a police van is suing Police Scotland for damages. Anji Mannas claims that although the physical injuries she sustained were “modest”, she suffered “severe and continuing psy

Dr Greg Gordon of Aberdeen University pays tribute to Professor David Lessels, who passed away on 28 December 2018. Prior to his retirement in 2013, David spent 40 years as a lecturer and senior lecturer within the Law School. Upon retirement, he was appointed an honorary professor, a tribute which

Before the festive break, Rachael Kelsey did her first update on the implications of Brexit for family law, giving a general overview of where we are with the three most likely political outcomes. Things are moving apace and there was a significant, if under the radar, development on 28th

A consultation on charity law setting out options to change the current regulatory system in Scotland has been launched by the Scottish government. Options in the consultation include:

Corporate law firm Rooney Nimmo has appointed Grant Docherty as a partner in its UK operations. He will be responsible for running the banking team at the firm and will be based in Edinburgh. Mr Docherty has nearly three decades of banking sector law experience having previously served as partner an

Police Scotland is failing to refer suspects to prosecutors timeously, according to figures obtained by Scottish Labour. Between 2015/16 and 2017/18 there has been around a 20 per cent increase in the number of cases that are not prosecuted because they are time barred, data supplied

Judges are the main source of bullying in the legal profession while sexual harassment and propositioning remain a problem, a survey for The Times has revealed. More than half of 1,500 barristers surveyed by the Bar Council thought there was still a problem with bullying and older male barristers se

Harper Macleod is helping to bring digital education opportunities to African schoolchildren by supporting the work of The Turing Trust. The firm has donated IT equipment to the charity, set up by relatives of Alan Turing, the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence,

Courts in Saudi Arabia will notify women by text message when they have been divorced under a new regulation aimed at ending secret divorces. In a statement, the Saudi justice ministry said women will now "be notified of any changes to their marital status via text message".

The Clerk of the Faculty of Advocates, Dr Kirsty Hood QC, has helped honour one of the world’s major legal figures, the US Supreme Court Associate Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. A special screening of RBG, a documentary about Justice Ginsburg, at the Glasgow Film Theatre was followed by a Q&

With the festive period over, the first working Monday in January traditionally sees one of the busiest days of the year for family lawyers with the number of people separating increasing following the Christmas and New Year holidays. Statistics on divorce regularly reveal a significant rise in the

A woman who listed her "used husband" on eBay for less than £20 says she received "a lot of positive feedback" but no concrete offers. The advert, addressed to "women who may be interested", read: "Over the first two days of Christmas I have realised that we simply don't belong together any mo

The UK government has announced a consultation on new laws to protect consumers from loss where they have already paid for products but not received them when the retailer goes bust. The Law Commission examined the issue of consumer prepayments on retailer insolvency in a July 2016 report which reco

On-the-spot fines issued by police for anti-social behaviour should be doubled for the worst offenders, the Scottish Conservatives have argued. The party said that the current fixed penalty notice (FPN) for offences including breach of the peace and vandalism should be doubled from £50 to &pou