News

The Scottish Civil Justice Council (SCJC) has launched a public consultation on the case management of family and civil partnership actions in the Sheriff Court. The consultation will run until 22 August 2018. The SCJC’s Family Law Committee is considering ways to improve how family actions ar

An appeal against a sheriff’s ruling on appeal from a children’s hearing should be an “exceptional” occurrence since there is a right of review of the original decision after three months, and the European Convention on Human Rights is not intended to provide a “catch-a

A Holyrood committee has welcomed the Scottish Crown Estate Bill in a report published today, while also suggesting ways it could be strengthened. The Scottish Parliament’s Environment, Climate Change and Land Reform Committee made a series of recommendations followings its examination of the

New figures show a decline in Scotland’s murder rate and an increase in reports of rape, The Herald reports. Unofficial police numbers show murder has fallen to a 40-year low, with 59 killings in 2017-18, one of the smallest figures since 1976. In 2004-05, there were 137 criminally violent dea

Congratulations are due to the University of Dundee, which has been ranked third for law in this year’s Guardian University guide. The university tweeted: “We're elated with this result, and many thanks to all those staff, administrators and students that made it possible!”

Writing for Scottish Legal News, Scottish Conservative MSP Liam Kerr responds to colleague Gordon Lindhurust MSP's article in the SLN Annual Review on the proposed removal of the reasonable chastisement defence. Recently my friend and colleague Gordon Lindhurst MSP expressed his surprise in an artic

Thursday 21st June, Aberdeen Grammar School FP Club,

More than a third of criminal barristers are considering leaving the profession, largely due to cuts to the legal aid budget, The Brief reports. Almost 50 per cent of those thinking about leaving cite funding as their main concern.

The Scottish legal profession will have a formal presence at Pride Edinburgh this year for the first time. The Glass Network is partnering with Womble Bond Dickinson to attend Pride Edinburgh on Saturday 16 June 2018.

Some US news websites have become inaccessible from most European countries following the introduction of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Newspapers owned by Tronc Inc. — including the Chicago Tribune, LA Times, New York Daily News, Baltimore Sun and Sun-Sentinel — are

CCPD Training are delighted to now be working in partnership with The Dome, Edinburgh to deliver first class locations for our CPD Seminars. Since we will be hosting our first Private Client Seminar there on August 30th, we will be providing complimentary drinks and canapés for all delegates

A man on trial for a sex crime exposed his penis in court to contradict the complainant’s claim it was a lighter colour than the rest of his body. Desmond James, 26, who is on trial in New Haven, Connecticut, was permitted to reveal his member by the judge, the New York Post reports.

A bank which has been seeking to call up £2.5 million in loans granted to a husband and wife for the purpose of purchasing and renovating their new home has failed in an appeal against a judge’s decision to prevent the so-called “vulture fund” from bankrupting the couple. The

Artificial intelligence software able to interpret images, match faces and analyse communication patterns is being piloted by UK police forces to expedite examination of mobile phones taken in crime investigations, The Guardian reports. Cellebrite, a Japanese-owned company, claims that a roll-out of

Facebook and Google have been hit with a series of lawsuits, in the wake of GDPR of coming into force, that accuse the tech giants of coercing users into sharing their personal data. The lawsuits, which seek to fine Facebook €3.9 billion and Google €3.7bn, were brought by Ma