News

A man who was sentenced to a total of five years' imprisonment after admitting assaulting police officers while on duty and assaulting a procurator fiscal depute in court has failed in an appeal against sentence. The Criminal Appeal Court dismissed the appellant’s claim the total sentence imposed

Ronnie Coulter has been convicted of the 1998 murder of Surjit Singh Chhokar, following a retrial under the Double Jeopardy (Scotland) Act 2011. At a trial in 1999, Mr Coulter, 48, from Wishaw was acquitted of murdering the 32-year-old Indian waiter in Overtown, North Lanarkshire.

Amber Rudd Unduly lenient sentences for extremists are to be dealt with under plans announced by the Home Secretary.

Roseanna Cunningham Tough new regulations on the use of electronic training collars for animals will be introduced in Scotland, Environment Secretary Roseanna Cunningham has announced.

Chris Philips and Pam Loch

Three students from the University of Edinburgh have been awarded £1,853 after their landlady failed to lodge their rental deposit in the approved tenancy scheme, the BBC has reported. Regulations introduced in May 2013 require landlords and letting agents to hand over deposits to an approved third

Peter Wright Proposals to use online courts to resolve civil claims of up to £25,000 represent a threat to access to justice, a leading lawyer has warned.

The fourth in Dr Fiona Westwood's series has just been published and is a must for any solicitor taking the nurturing of young lawyers or their own professional development seriously. Following Achieving Best Practice-shaping professionals for success (2001), Accelerated Best Practice-implementing s

A man who was jailed for four months after being found guilty of hare coursing has successfully appealed against his sentence. The Sheriff Appeal Court allowed the appeal after ruling that the sheriff ought to have imposed a “substantial fine” as an alternative to custody.

Christian Åhlund The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) has highlighted a number of areas of concern in its latest report on the UK, including gaps in the UK-wide Public Order Act 1986 and the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 and recommends the introduction of offences committed o

Dr Hannah Graham The Scottish government is to continue to expand the use of electronic tags, Justice Secretary Michael Matheson announced today.

The Defense Secretary Michael Fallon (pictured right) will today announce plans to allow parts of the European Convention on Human Rights to be suspended during military conflicts. Ahead of his speech at the Conservative Party conference, Mr Fallon claimed the legal system had “been abused”.

The unfair trial application of a convicted paedophile has been dismissed as "manifestly ill-founded" by the European Court of Human Rights as it vindicated the findings of the English Court of Appeal that the jury in his trial was impartial. The applicant, Shabir Ahmed, is a British national who wa

Morton Fraser has enhanced its intellectual property (IP) expertise with the appointment of Dr Julie Nixon (pictured right) as a senior solicitor in its corporate team. Dr Nixon's appointment sees Morton Fraser become Scotland’s only law firm to have two IP lawyers with PhDs. She joins Dr Peter Ga

Murray Souter