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First Minister John Swinney has called for a new approach to reduce deaths and harms from drugs and alcohol. It comes as a new Alcohol and Drugs Fund, which will provide £36.9 million to frontline services and organisations working with people affected by alcohol and drugs, is launched. 

A number of rape convictions are being reviewed after a police detective was suspended over allegations that he used AI to generate evidence and case documents in a way designed to secure desired outcomes. The officer, from Derbyshire Police, has been removed from frontline duties and is the subject

The number of company insolvencies registered in Scotland fell by a quarter in May compared with the same month last year, according to the latest figures published by the Insolvency Service.

The families of those killed in the RAF Chinook crash on the Mull of Kintyre in 1994 have secured a court hearing in their bid for judicial review. The hearing, now scheduled for July 14 at the High Court in London, will consider whether the families' application should proceed.

Practitioners will be all too familiar with the Law Society of Scotland’s ‘Standards of Conduct’, especially when it comes to the obligations owed to clients so as not to bring yourself and, indeed, the wider profession into disrepute, writes Thomas Mitchell. However, in my own fir

The new lord advocate and solicitor general were sworn in by the Lord Justice General, Lord Pentland, at Parliament House on Friday. Ruth Charteris KC is now lord advocate and BJ Gill KC is solicitor general.

Anderson Strathern’s corporate deals team has played a key role in assisting Aveni Ltd in securing a multi-million-pound investment. Director Max Scharbert, alongside associate Rory Crawford, acted on behalf of the Edinburgh-based business, helping it secure £12 million of funding from P

Nairn Academy pupils Charlie Holder and Fraser Cordiner have triumphed in the 2026 final of the Donald Dewar Memorial Debate Tournament, defending the title they won last year. The annual Law Society of Scotland-sponsored contest concluded at Edinburgh Napier University on Wednesday, 17 June 2026, w

An environmental campaigner and lawyer who organised a volunteer clean-up of a polluted river is being investigated by the Environment Agency over allegations that the work was carried out without the necessary permits. Paul Powlesland, founder of the River Roding Trust, led volunteers in removing l

The "potentially significant" consequences for the economy if US-style opt-out class action lawsuits are introduced in Scotland has been highlighted in a new report. The Fraser of Allander Institute (FAI) report, The Economic Impact of Mass Litigation in Scotland, commissioned by CMS, seeks to

Despite promises to “take back control” and diverge from EU rules, the UK is increasingly aligning with the European Union, according to a new report from the Constitution Society and the Federal Trust. In Brexit and Regulation, experts Professor Catherine Barnard and Joël Reland ch

The University of Leicester is inviting members of the public to a thought-provoking lecture exploring the role of human rights in modern British society. Hosted by the Centre for European Law and Internationalisation (CELI), the free in-person and online lecture, “What have human rights done

Our weekly round-up of human rights stories from around the world. Canada eliminates human rights watchdog that oversees companies operating abroad

A House of Lords committee has backed plans for an international commission to assess compensation claims arising from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, while warning that the scheme’s effectiveness could be undermined by the lack of a mechanism to pay awards. The International Agreements Co

Holmes Mackillop Solicitors has appointed Lauren Brown as a paralegal in its Giffnock office. Ms Brown qualified as a conveyancing paralegal in 2023 and brings over 15 years’ experience in residential property work, with a particular focus on high‑volume remortgage transactions.