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Chris Cummings A financial and professional services lobbyist has reported continued financial growth for UK-based legal services firms, with gross fees up 1.3 per cent to a record £30.9 billion in 2014/15, as well as significant structural reform which has seen alternative business structures (ABS

Paul Tweed Criticising recommendations to extend British defamation law reforms, including the "serious harm" test, to Northern Ireland, defamation lawyer Paul Tweed of Johnsons Solicitors in Belfast, told our sister publication, Irish Legal News, that the proposals would cause legal costs to "go th

The widow of a scuba diving enthusiast who was killed in an accident will not be able to pursue her claim for damages against the owners and operators of a vessel from which her late husband fell and drowned, after a judge ruled that her negligence claim was “time-barred”. The Court of Session h

A sheriff has criticised the for prosecuting a serial child abuser on a summary rather than solemn complaint — limiting the sentence she could impose on him to a single year, The Herald reports. Sheriff Elizabeth McFarlane expressed frustration that she could only jail David Tannock, 37, for 12 mo

The Law Society of Scotland has questioned the benefit of giving police new powers to stop and search children and young people. In its responses to Scottish government consultations on stop and search, including a consultation on police powers to search children and young people for alcohol and a c

Brian Inkster Crofting law expert Brian Inkster has urged the Scottish government to exercise caution in removing the Crofting Commission from the list of tribunals in the Tribunals (Scotland) Act 2014. He considers that such a move may be premature pending the outcome of an investigation into the C

A dentist whose bad practices led to a mass HIV scare is to be sued in what could become the the biggest mass litigation case in Scotland’s legal history. Disgraced dentist Alan Morrison was struck off the dental register earlier this year after he put 6,000 patients at risk as a result of using d

Graham White

Mark Hendrie, fourth left, flanked by Paul Clancy senior and junior and the Clancy Hendrie team

Kenny Crawford The latest publication of the UK House Price Index (UK HPI) shows that the average price of a property in Scotland in May 2016 was £141,142, an increase of 4.0 per cent on the previous year and an increase of 2.8 per cent when compared to the previous month. This compares to a UK ave

The Faculty of Advocates has joined bars elsewhere in the UK and Ireland to express its concern about the situation in Turkey and its possible implications for the rule of law in the country. The leaders of the four bars – Scotland, England & Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland – took time a

Maggie Hughes

A firm of funeral directors has become the first business of its type to establish itself as an alternative business structure (ABS), Legal Futuresreports. Lodge Brothers Legal Services offers fixed-fee will, probate and powers of attorney services.

A father who claimed that his daughter was “coached” to make false accusations that he sexually abused her has failed in his appeal against a sheriff’s decision to refuse his application for contact with his child. The sheriff had ruled that it was in the child’s “best interests” to refu

An Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has found that a company policy requiring an employee to remove her Islamic headscarf when in contact with clients constitutes unlawful direct discrimination and that an entirely neutral dress code policy may also constitute in