News

There has been a 16 per cent fall crime in Scotland since 2016-17, new figures show. Less than one in a hundred people (0.7 per cent) experienced more than one violent crime in 2017-18 and this group accounted for three-fifths of all violent crime, according to the Scottish Crime and Justice Su

A senior criminal practitioner will be a Faculty representative on a new panel looking at the way sexual offence cases are dealt with in the courts. Frances McMenamin QC has been confirmed as a member of the review group, chaired by Lady Dorrian, the Lord Justice Clerk.

Via Blackadders: A group from Blackadders had a fantastic night at the Dundee Faculty Dinner. The Faculty of Procurators and Solicitors in Dundee was formed in 1820 by Royal Charter and is open to all solicitors and trainees in Dundee.

Lawyers have been reprimanded for using a transgender client's birth name when advising them on a discrimination claim. A leaked document from the Legal Ombudsman shows that a law firm was forced to compensate the client after it used her birth name in correspondence that provided advice on the clai

An army rifleman was reprimanded after going on a killing spree – in a virtual battlefield. In the computer game which soldiers are required to train on, he shot dead a comrade and destroyed vehicles in order to kill others.

The surviving partner of an elderly woman who died after suffering gastrointestinal bleeding has been awarded more than £187,000 in damages, having successfully sued a Scottish health board following a junior doctor’s failure to admit the patient to hospital. A judge in the Court of

The Scottish Parliament can competently legislate to ban fracking and indeed is legally obligated to do so, an advocate has said. Aidan O'Neill QC, whose opinion was commissioned by Friends of the Earth, made his comments ahead of an anticipated announcement from the Scottish government about h

Poor financial management, unclear lines of responsibility and a failure to focus on the views of officers and staff in the early stages of reform lie at the root of many of the problems faced by Police Scotland, according to Holyrood's Justice Committee. A review into the 2012 Police and Fire

The equivalent of more than 40 per cent of officers and staff have left the British Transport Police in Scotland since the Scottish government announced its plan to merge the service into Police Scotland. Freedom of information requests submitted by the Scottish Liberal Democrats have revealed that

Raeburn Christie Clark & Wallace (RCCW) has increased its Stonehaven presence through the acquisition of local law firm Connons of Stonehaven (Connons). Naomi Mearns, partner and Stonehaven branch principal at RCCW, will be working closely with Scott Rennie, associate solicitor at Connons, to sp

A public education campaign aims to help a new law making psychological or emotional maltreatment a form of domestic abuse in Scotland. The Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 creates a new offence of “abusive behaviour in relation to a partner or ex-partner” where physical and sexual vio

Cameron Intellectual Property has established a partnership with German-based RGTH (Richter Gerbaulet Thielemann Hofmann) to mitigate the uncertainty posed by Brexit. The relationship aims to ensure the firm retains a seamless service across the EU regardless of the outcome of Brexit.

At least half of the UK's judges should be women, the President of the UK Supreme Court, Lady Hale, has said. The UK's most senior judge made the remarks while reflecting on the centenary of women's entry to the legal profession at an event hosted by the Association of Women Judges (AWJ), The Telegr

Legal journalist John Forsyth learns about the realities of rehabilitating convicted knife criminals on a visit to the Scottish Violence Reduction Unit in the latest episode of BBC Radio 4's From Our Home Correspondent. Many experts regard the scheme in Glasgow as a model for other UK cities - notab

A man accused of "butchering" a tree near his property has been ordered to pay £21,000 under proceeds of crime legislation. Samuel Wilson, 40, added £21,000 to the value of his home by illegally chopping back a tree that was subject to a preservation order, The Times reports.