News

CMS has advised Smart Metering Systems Plc (SMS) on its latest equity placing. The transaction involved an accelerated bookbuild process, managed by Cenkos Securities plc, Investec Bank plc and RBC Capital Markets, to raise around £175 million investment through a share placing. SMS is a fully

A new plan aims to positively impact the lives of people from minority ethnic communities, as part of Scotland’s recovery from the pandemic. The Immediate Priorities Plan for race equality focuses on the roots of inequalities which disproportionately impact minority ethnic communities.

Shadow Justice Secretary Jamie Greene MSP has met with three of the top UK government and Scottish government justice officials to discuss a range of issues affecting the portfolio. Mr Greene met the Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain QC and Solicitor General, Ruth Charteris QC, at the Crown Office to disc

Law firms across the UK are being encouraged to take part in a cycling challenge to raise money for Breast Cancer Now. Tour de Law takes place over a week, from Monday 11th October – Sunday 17th October 2021, bringing together employees across the UK legal sector to get moving, get fundraising

Boris Johnson has been filmed telling supporters that the UK has become the "Saudi Arabia of penal policy" under Home Secretary Priti Patel. He made the remarks, which have been widely condemned, at a private fundraising dinner for the Cities of London & Westminster Conservative Association (CLW

A lawyer was arrested after dressing up as Michael Myers from the Halloween horror movie franchise and strolling on the beach with a bloody knife. Texas attorney Mark Metzger said he was "pranking" his home town of Galveston by wandering in the scary costume, the Galveston Daily News reports.

A sheriff has determined that the death of a prisoner in Scotland’s only privately-run prison could potentially have been avoided were it not for defects in the prison’s then-current system of working. John Smith died as a result of heart and lung disease on 20 April 2019 in his cell in

Nikki Hunter clears up the confusion left in the wake of a recent Outer House case. Practitioners may have read with interest the case of D v D [2021] CSOH 66 where both senior counsel and the instructing agent gave evidence about the advice which they tendered to their former client (the pursuer in

Anderson Strathern has made 25 promotions – including at director, senior associate and associate level. The three senior associates promoted to director are Laura McCabe, Danielle Edgar, and Ewan Regan. Laura McCabe is a solicitor advocate in the firm’s commercial litigation team in Edi

The Edinburgh office of Balfour and Manson has added two new associates – one each to its employment and commercial property teams. Russell Eadie joins the firm as a senior associate in the employment team. He arrives at the firm having worked in employment law for over 25 years. A former part

Plans for the construction of Scotland’s first spaceport have passed yet another legal hurdle after the Scottish Land Court ruled that crofters can still work on the land outside of rocket launch periods. The Land Court approved a change in land use to enable Highlands and Islands Enterprise (

Douglas J. Cusine questions the purpose and scope of the proposed register of judicial interests. The Scottish government is insisting on a register of judicial interests, to promote the ends of “openness and transparency”. It is unlikely that any arguments presented by the former and cu

The purpose of the unification of the Scottish Land Court and the Lands Tribunal for Scotland announced by the Scottish government last week is to simplify arrangements for the resolution of land law disputes. As matters stand, anyone with a legal problem involving land is faced with the question of

More than 140 former heads of state and government and Nobel laureates today called on the candidates to be the next German chancellor – Annalena Baerbock, Olaf Scholz, and Armin Laschet – to declare themselves in favour of waiving intellectual property rules for Covid-19 vaccines and tr

Womble Bond Dickinson (WBD), which has an office in Edinburgh, has unveiled a new hybrid working model. Its staff now have the flexibility to combine home and office working, without any mandatory requirements being set across the business other than for those in learning roles.