News

A dispute has emerged in Parliament following the Home Office's covert decision to reduce the criteria required to take action against protesters causing "serious disruption". This move was made despite having been voted down by peers in the Lords.

The Lord President, Lord Carloway, has appointed Sheriff Principal Aisha Anwar as president of the Sheriff Appeal Court and Sheriff Principal Sean Murphy as vice president. Appointments are effective from 1 August 2023 and 17 May 2023, respectively.

Proposed legislation to update and strengthen charity law has passed its first parliamentary stage. MSPs have voted to support the general principles of the Charities (Regulation and Administration) Bill which aims to improve accountability and transparency of charities and increases the powers of t

The High Court of Justiciary has refused an application by a man convicted seeking to extend the time period in which he could make an appeal against a series of rape and assault convictions from February 2021. Robert Garden was convicted in 2021 of various charges of rape and assault against multip

A group of Dundee University students have joined forces to lead a campaign on the local and national drug-death crisis. They have conducted a consultation involving over 1,000 students and have also designed a 113-page framework for the future, featuring 10 core recommendations that call for greate

A round-up of human rights stories from around the world. Iran executes two men for blasphemy as human rights group accuses regime of 'intolerable' crackdown

The UK government has scrapped plans to repeal thousands of EU laws by the end of the year in what was dubbed a "post-Brexit bonfire". The controversial sunset clause in the Retained EU Law Bill, which is currently being considered by MPs, will no longer apply to all retained EU law and will instead

Police responding to reports of a man screaming "help" discovered the source of the screaming was actually a goat. Body camera footage shows officers in Oklahoma running towards the source of the screaming only to find the unhappy farm animal.

Activity in Scotland’s housing market slowed through April according to the latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) Residential Market Survey, though prices are still rising.

Thompsons Solicitors has promoted four lawyers to partner and two to associate across its offices. The newly assumed partners are Alan Calderwood who is based in their Edinburgh office accident team and David Adams who is based in the RTA team in Glasgow.

Clowns to the left and jokers to the right: the Scottish electorate is zugzwanged as David J Black sees it. Some weeks ago The Guardian’s Marina Hyde levelled a blast against Labour and its normally hesitant leader. Her headline, 'What was that dreadful thud? The sound of Keir Starmer falling

Recent changes to the grounds for possession of rented properties are creating not only apparently irrational decisions but also gross invasions into the privacy and personal circumstances of private rental sector landlords, according to a law firm. Emma King, co-founder of Glasgow-headquartere

The bland reference in many books to ‘lawyers’ may understate seriously the exact nature of the work done in practice. Individual histories of firms and individuals provide an insight as to the formation of firms, their longevity and the work of the solicitors and their staff. Several di

Senior legal executives will have the opportunity to become Crown Court judges as the UK government takes action to address the backlog of serious criminal cases. Justice Secretary Alex Chalk KC announced that the departure from usual practice on the Crown Court bench, which has traditionally been o

It's back! Cancer Research Racquet – the international group of legal and business professionals who raise money for cancer research – has announced the return of its Champagne Garden Party fundraiser, to be held on the evening of Friday 26 May 2023 in Edinburgh. Back for the first time