News

The Home Secretary has successfully challenged a Scottish judge’s decision that her refusal of a Pakistani national’s application for leave to remain in the UK was unlawful. The Lord Ordinary held that a rejection letter by the Secretary of State failed to consider whether refusal of leave to re

A man who threatened a sheriff in her presence that he would find and kill her has been sentenced to over three years in prison. At Airdrie Sheriff Court today, Sheriff Richard Clark sentenced Thomas Rundell to three years and two months imprisonment after the accused pled guilty to threatening to k

A man found guilty of exchanging sexually explicit mobile phone messages with a 13-year-old girl and having in his possession thousands of indecent images of children on his computers has failed in an appeal against conviction but successfully challenged the sentence imposed. The Criminal Appeal Cou

A 42-year old businessman who ran a multi-million pound VAT fraud scheme has been ordered to pay £240,000 to prosecutors. Shahid Ramzan's lawyers agreed he evaded VAT payments of £5,661,839 between October 2002 and July 2004, with the High Court in Edinburgh ordering him to pay £240,000 within si

Church of Scotland officials have warned ministers may be taken to court if they refuse to wed gay couples. The church's general assembly will next month consider a report by the legal questions committee (LQC) of the organisation which warns the church may be “vulnerable to legal challenge” as

House prices rose 13.3 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2014-15, while the volume of sales dropped by 4.7 per cent compared to the same period last year according to official statistics published today by Registers of Scotland (RoS). The average house price in Scotland from January to March was £1

Nearly half of motorists who ignore traffic laws have said they do so on purpose because they either do not believe in the laws or do not think they will be caught. Seven in ten respondents to a survey said they had seen other drivers eating or drinking, using their phones or tailgating.

Margaret Burgess

DLA Piper has advised Heart of Midlothian football club on a significant partnership with Save the Children. Led by Graeme Henry, partner and head of the restructuring team in Scotland, DLA Piper helped structure the deal which will see Hearts FC become the first ever club in the UK to carry the nam

Demand for commercial property in the UK is growing close to its fastest pace since 1998 and, along with a surge in investment, reflects the widening economic recovery, according to the latest RICS Commercial Market Survey. In Q1 2015 demand for commercial properties in Scotland increased, with 32 p

Proceedings have been issued against a retired army general who is being sued over the death of a Catholic man at the height of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. Sir Frank Kitson and the Ministry of Defence have been accused of complicity in a February 1973 attack when loyalist paramilitaries threw

Counsel from other jurisdictions must join the Scottish Bar if they wish to appear in Scotland’s supreme courts, judges have ruled, in refusing an application from an English barrister seeking rights of audience. The Inner House of the Court of Session held that the court’s “inherent power”

A Holyrood committee has said the buying of sex should not be criminalised under new human trafficking legislation being considered by the parliament. Campaigners have called for the practice to be made illegal as part of the Human Trafficking and Exploitation Bill but MSPs have said the bill was no

Female police officers in Scotland have called for the same maternity rights as officers in England who get an extra five weeks of leave. Policewomen in Scotland get 13 weeks leave on full pay after having a child, whereas in England they are given 18 weeks.

Attempts to investigate reports of asylum seekers being denied food and living in poor conditions at a Scottish detention centre have been blocked by the Home Office. The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) requested a visit to Dungavel Immigration Removal Centre in South Lanarkshire but was refus