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Legal aid in England and Wales is in urgent need of reform to ensure that the most vulnerable can have access to justice, a report by the House of Commons Justice Committee has found. The report warns that a rigid system of fixed fees and low pay is leaving firms specialising in legal aid struggling

Balfour and Manson has appointed Sylvia McCullagh to its property team as the market continues to pick up after the Covid-19 slowdown. Ms McCullagh brings wide-ranging and extensive conveyancing experience to the team, joining as an associate. She will work with partner and head of residential

It was inevitable that the impact of the pandemic on the world’s economy would once again throw a spotlight on the revenue-raising potential of inheritance and gift taxes, writes Lindsay Bryce Mackay. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has recently published

Business activity has risen in Scotland as the wider economy continues to reopen, according to Addleshaw Goddard's latest Scottish Business Monitor report. The report, published in partnership with the University of Strathclyde’s Fraser of Allander Institute, confirms that business sentim

Joseph G Boyd & Co Court Lawyers has opened a new office.

Barrister Stephen Mason has written about the Post Office Horizon scandal and the "underlying legal cause of the scandal – that computers are presumed to be reliable". Mr Mason called to the bar in 1988 and is an associate research fellow at the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies in London.

Police managed to solve a mere two per cent of dog theft cases in the UK last year.

Lawyers are debating how to deal with a German man who had an anti-aircraft gun, torpedo – and a tank – in his basement. Prosecutors and the defence are negotiating penalties, including a suspended sentence and a €500,000 (£427,000) fine.

The makers of Hendrick’s Gin have succeeded in extending the range of an interdict preventing a discount supermarket chain from selling a product that infringes on their trade mark to the whole of the UK after the chain brought a reclaiming motion to the Inner House of the Court of Sessio

CMS has announced the promotion of five colleagues to the role of of counsel in Scotland. Construction law specialist Claudia Russell and two further Edinburgh-based colleagues, Kirsty Nurse and Keith Simpson from the firm’s banking and finance team, have been elevated to the senior position.

DWF has appointed five newly-qualified solicitors and taken on six new trainee solicitors across its expanding Scottish teams in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Taking up newly-qualified solicitor positions in the Scottish offices in September are Katherine Lynch, Sara Baskin, Hope Donnachie, Katy Smith and

A solicitor who let a sex offender access confidential files has been fined £2,000 by the Scottish Solicitors' Discipline Tribunal (SSDT). Leon Kondol, 40, from Glasgow, was hired to represent a man accused of the sexual abuse of children.

The now 81-year-old daughter of influential English judge Lord Devlin has told an inquiry that she suffered sexual abuse at his hands throughout her childhood and adolescence. Clare Devlin spoke to The Observer over the weekend about her experience of her late father, who served on the High Court fr

Legislation comes into force today to help siblings in care stay together. Part 13 of the Children (Scotland) Act 2020 and the Looked After Children (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2021 mean local authorities have a duty to ensure siblings are supported to stay together, where appropriate. 

Frontline services for women and girls affected by gender-based violence will receive £5 million to deal with additional pressures that have occurred during the pandemic. The funding will go to rape crisis centres and domestic abuse services to cut waiting lists, helping to ensure those affect