News

The 'not proven' verdict was returned the least by juries in sexual offence trials between 2016 and 2020, a freedom of information request has shown. In such cases, Scotland's third verdict was used:

Possession of Class A drugs may incur a police warning rather than prosecution under a new “diversion from prosecution” policy for drugs announced by the Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain QC. In a statement, Ms Bain said: "I have decided that an extension of the recorded police warning guideli

The research into fatal accident inquiries, (SLN, 15 September) for me, reads rather strangely. The researchers looked at approximately 200 cases of deaths in prison, but because in only 10 per cent of these was any recommendation made, they suggest that the system is flawed. It is not clear whether

An Edinburgh-based care company that provides housing and community support to those with additional needs has been fined £20,000 for its failure to safeguard a worker who became the victim of abduction, assault and rape.

A proposal for a member's bill to enable competent adults who are terminally ill to be able to end their life has been lodged. Liam McArthur MSP launched a consultation on the Assisted Dying for Terminally Ill Adults (Scotland) Bill at Holyrood yesterday.

Glasgow law firm Campbell Riddell Breeze Paterson LLP will become part of Holmes Mackillop Limited on 1 October. The merged business will trade initially as “Holmes Mackillop Solicitors incorporating Campbell Riddell Breeze Paterson” and then as “Holmes Mackillop Solicitors”.

A harrowing incident in which a baby died in Europe's largest women's prison, with the 18-year-old mother giving birth in her cell alone despite repeated calls for help, "should never have happened", a watchdog has said. The Prisons and Probation Ombudsman (PPO) for England and Wales yesterday publi

Ian Beattie, the chief operating officer of Lindsays, has been named as the new chair of UK Athletics. He will take on the role in October, as his time in the same role at scottishathletics comes to a close after its maximum nine-year period.

Perthshire law firm Macnabs has recently recruited a new trainee to take the total current trainee intake to four. Megan Carling has joined the family team at Macnabs after graduating from Aberdeen University with an LLB and completing her diploma at Strathclyde University.

A new student clinic at Edinburgh Law School will be the first of its kind in Scotland and only the second in the UK when it opens its doors next month. The Scottish Tax Clinic, run by the university in conjunction with charity partner TaxAid, represents a significant expansion of pro bono tax servi

Limited places are available at CLT Scotland’s Commercial Property Conference, sponsored by First Scottish, taking place online on Tuesday 28 September. Chaired by Harper MacLeod’s David Steel, the conference will consider the latest lease, access, environmental, compulsory purchase and

A judge who was caught playing cards during a remote court hearing in a case worth nearly €100 million has apologised. Madam Justice Jolaine Antonio, a judge of the Alberta Court of Appeal in Canada, admitted in a letter that there was "no excuse for causing litigants and their counsel to feel

The UK Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by a travel agent against a decision that it could not set aside a contractual agreement with an airline with a monopoly on flights between the UK and Pakistan for reasons of lawful act economic duress. Times Travel UK had originally brought a claim again

Plans to exclude juries from rape trials have been rubbished by the Faculty of Advocates. In a submission to Holyrood's Criminal Justice Committee, the Faculty states that many within the legal profession had been accused of being conspiracy theorists when they suggested last year that there was "a

More than 4,650 sheriff summary cases were concluded last month, almost reaching pre-Covid levels. The latest figures from the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) also show that during August: