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A new card game inspired by party hit Cards Against Humanity has been refused patent protection in Bulgaria for insulting the country's "ancient and eternal values". Much like the US game, Cards Against Bulgarianness sees players combine cards with short phrases to create funny and offensive stateme

Major law firms in the City of London are in the middle of a recruitment boom with a sharp increase in vacancies, according to a recruiter. JMC Legal said there are currently 2,680 vacancies for lawyers, a 14 per cent rise on the previous year, with an even larger 58 per cent rise in in-house openin

Scottish craft brewer start-up, BrewDog, has been caught up in a copyright dispute over its 'Lone Wolf' gin line-up. A filing made with the US Patent and Trademark Office shows that BrewDog's usage of the name has been challenged by Lone Wolf Cigar Cellar, claiming it is damaging its business and is

Andy Hornby and James Crosby, the former HBOS bosses who were under investigation for their part in the failure of banking group in 2008, have been let off without penalty. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) have completed protracted joint investigat

Two Scottish universities have begun paying settlements to students who were sexually abused by a disgraced academic. Strathclyde University and Heriot-Watt University have paid five-figure sums to at least two victims of professor Kevin O'Gorman, with payouts expected to total hundreds of thousands

A private member's bill proposing the establishment of a domestic abuse register similar to the sex offenders register has gone out for consultation. The proposed Domestic Abuse (Prevention) (Scotland) Bill, put forward by Scottish Conservative MSP Pam Gosal, would require those placed on the domest

A rapist who beat and tortured several partners has been jailed indefinitely after posthumous testimony from two victims. Unemployed Alexander Thomson, 42, of Broxburn, West Lothian, was made the subject of an order for lifelong restriction at the High Court in Glasgow on Friday.

Former MSP Tommy Sheridan has been declared bankrupt after failing to pay over £82,000 in legal costs arising from his failed judicial review against the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (SCCRC). Mr Sheridan was jailed for three years in 2011 after being found guilty of lying in evide

Paul Cackette, the former head of the Scottish government's legal directorate and chief reporter of the directorate of planning and environmental appeals, has been appointed to support an urgent review of Ireland's planning body. The Office of the Planning Regulator (OPR) this week announced the urg

Amnesty International has condemned moves by Russian-backed armed groups to try Ukrainian prisoners of war in a so-called "international tribunal" in Mariupol as illegal and abusive. Reports and pictures shared on social media appear to show cages being built inside the Mariupol Philharmonic Hall to

The Scottish Child Abuse Inquiry (SCAI) has announced a series of public hearings about the abuse of children in residential accommodation for young offenders and children and young persons in need of care and protection. The hearings, commencing in the second half of 2023, will focus on residential

A prison governor has apologised after allowing prisoners to take part in a go-karting contest. Inmates and guards at Fresnes Prison, the second-largest prison in France, took part in go-karting, tug-of-war and other events inspired by a TV game show, euronews reports.

The US Department of Justice has been ordered to release a redacted version of an affidavit making the case for a raid of former president Donald Trump's Florida home. Judge Bruce Reinhart, who granted the search warrant for the unprecedented raid on Mar-a-Lago earlier this month, ruled after media

A round-up of human rights stories from around the world. Arrest of Russian bar leader condemned | The Law Society Gazette

Construction contractors may need to deploy greater legal safeguards in order to protect their businesses from being pushed under by spiralling costs, a lawyer has warned. Andrew Boccoli, a director in the Commercial Property department at Scottish legal firm Lindsays, believes extreme market volati