News

Michael Matheson The overall level of crime in Scotland and the likelihood of being a victim have both fallen since 2008/09 – though there has been no change in the level of crime since 2014/15.

Tyre firm Michelin has been fined £5,000 by an employment tribunal for unfairly sacking a grieving worker, The Herald reports. It marks the first time a judge in Scotland has exercised powers granted in 2014 to fine bosses for this kind of behaviour.

A man campaigning for a change in the law to allow the adoption of adults has failed to gain the support of the Scottish government. Nathan Sparling, 27, called on MSPs to enact changes to allow him to be adopted by his stepfather, Brian, something which cannot currently be done under Scots law.

An Austrian official is to be given more than €300,000 after he was unfairly passed over for a job because he is male, The Local reports. Peter Franzmayr sued after failing to gain an internal promotion in the country’s transport ministry in 2011.

Robin Mitchell

The family of a man who murdered his mother but remains executor of her estate has called for a change in the law. Ross Taggart, 33, from Dunfermline, strangled his mother, Carol, 54, in 2014 before trying to pawn some of her property.

A Scottish local authority which failed to provide an adequate plan to support an autistic child’s return to secondary school breached its duty not to discriminate on the grounds of disability. The Inner House of the Court of Session refused an appeal by Edinburgh City Council against an Additiona

Often mis-attributed to Bismark, the poet John Godfey Saxe is reputed to have said that “Laws, like sausages, cease to inspire respect in proportion as we know how they are made”. The authors of this book are both lawyers with a wealth of political experience, and this combination makes

Holyrood’s Equalities and Human Rights Committee has unanimously backed the general principles of the Historical Sexual Offences (Pardons and Disregards) Bill. The bill pardons men convicted of same-sex sexual activity that no longer constitutes a crime, and offers to ‘disregard’ their crimina

There were 514 applications to the Solicitors Regulation Authority to open new law firms in 2017, underlining the health of the legal profession despite Brexit related uncertainty, according to accountants and business advisers Hazlewoods, which specialises in the legal profession. With 10,400 solic

The Scottish Legal Complaints Commission Consumer Panel has published its response to the call for evidence from the independent review of legal regulation in Scotland.

New figures reveal that Scotland’s “Drambusters” have launched legal action more than 60 times to protect Scotch whisky against fakes, with Russia becoming a growing problem, The Herald reports.

Daradjeet Jagpal As the spectre of GDPR looms, Daradjeet Jagpal, legal consultant and director of Information Law Solutions, asks: is GDPR the Millennium Bug for law firms?’

Mary Barbour

Douglas Mill was the speaker at the first CPD event organised by the newly reformed Society of Solicitors of Orkney.