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Human rights lawyer Kavita Chetty has joined the Scottish government as deputy director for human rights and mainstreaming. Ms Chetty, formerly head of legal and strategy at the Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC), has been appointed on a fixed-term basis for up to three years.

Power has been restored in Edinburgh Sheriff Court after an outage yesterday afternoon forced the adjournment of some business. In a statement issued yesterday at 3pm, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS) said all business for Edinburgh Sheriff and JP Court "has been adjourned for the re

Parliamentary privilege would be extended to members of the Scottish Parliament under plans set out by Liz Truss ahead of a Tory leadership hustings in Perth this evening. At present, MSPs — like members of the devolved assemblies in Wales and Northern Ireland — do not have the same free

The Upper Tribunal for Scotland has refused an appeal by a landlord against an order requiring him to comply with a Repairing Standard Enforcement Order after he challenged the appropriateness of leaving the order in place. Mohammed Arshad, the appellant, argued that it was not possible to carry out

A coffee tycoon has been forced to withdraw his bid to become San Francisco's next district attorney after city officials pointed out he had to be an attorney first. Austin Hills, whose family founded Hills Bros Coffee in the late 19th century, had already submitted nomination papers for the upcomin

The Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain QC, visited Safe Harbour Inverclyde last week, a charity which supports people to improve their emotional wellbeing.  

Amnesty International has said it will conduct an internal review following a high-profile row over a report accusing Ukraine's armed forces of endangering civilians. A press release issued by the human rights organisation on Thursday 4 August said researchers had found "evidence of Ukrainian forces

The Fox Corporation is facing an unprecedented $1.6 billion defamation suit from a voting systems company falsely accused of rigging the 2020 presidential election against Donald Trump. Dominion Voting Systems alleges that Fox-owned TV channels broadcast a large number of false and far-fetched state

The rule of law in Hungary is under serious threat as Viktor Orbán’s government constantly abuses its authority to influence the courts, a senior judge has told The Observer. Csaba Vasvári, a senior judge at the Budapest metropolitan court, said that he and other members of the j

The Lord Advocate, Dorothy Bain QC, has written to the Home Office in an effort to cut the red tape around checks that reveal if children accused of crimes are victims of human trafficking. Ms Bain raised concerns as prosecutors in Scotland are forced to pursue young people who may be involved with

On 31 July I was among the 17.4 million TV viewers who switched on to watch England beat Germany in the final of the UEFA Women’s European Championship. For England and sport fans alike it was an incredible spectacle – with a record 87,192 fans in Wembley Stadium producing an electric, a

A memorial to the “father of Scottish democracy” and member of the Faculty of Advocates has wrongly described him as a "barrister", The Times reports. Thomas Muir of Huntershill, who was admitted to Faculty in 1787, at the age of 22, was persecuted before being banished in 1793 for his a

Councils and education providers are now legally required to make period products available free of charge to anyone who needs them after the Period Products (Free Provision) (Scotland) Act came into force today. Since 2017, the Scottish government has invested more than £27 million to fund ac

Levy & McRae has made new appointments to its property team.  Paul Kenneth, who has worked in major UK and international firms joins as a partner. He has particular expertise in commercial work, real estate, finance and renewables. He will be working across both Levy & McRae&r

A law professor from Scotland has helped secure a step forward in a major legal action on behalf of the last survivors of the single worst racist killing spree in American history, The Scotsman reports. Eric Miller, who studied law at Edinburgh University, is part of the legal team that represents t