News

A motion by a man who sued a health board for damages resulting from negligence seeking access to a digital recording of evidence provided by an expert witness has been refused by the Sheriff Appeal Court. Billy McGowan argued that the sheriff had decided his case unfairly as a result of o

Staff and members of the legal profession gathered to say farewell to Sheriff Lindsay Foulis, who has retired after 20 years on the bench. Sheriff Principal Marysia Lewis paid tribute to the outgoing sheriff while the Society of Procurators and Solicitors in the City and County of Perth also th

Miller Samuel Hill Brown has announced the promotion of two of its lawyers from associate to senior associate. Eilidh McGuire, who works in the licensing department, specialises in all aspects of liquor, gaming and civic licensing law. She acts for various national operators, as well as independent

Animal welfare campaigns charity OneKind has raised concerns about Scotland’s new licensing guidance for the killing of mountain hares. Last year, the Scottish Parliament voted to make mountain hares a protected species, putting an end to Scotland’s mass scale mountain hare killings. Und

To mark the end of Pride Month, Beverley Addison, a senior solicitor in BTO’s family law team, takes us on a journey through the history of family law in Scotland for LGBTQ+ people. In the third and final part today, she looks at adoption as well as fertility law – before thinking about

Looking at the number of adverts on Scottish Legal News recently it would appear that as we come out of the pandemic (here’s hoping) that quite a lot of you are. Recruitment in my discipline of family law is not easy, and I know that’s also the case for many other private client-focussed

Balfour and Manson's Aberdeen office has moved to new premises at 6 Albyn Terrace after nearly five years at their previous base at Carden Place. Julie Clark-Spence, the partner who heads up the Aberdeen office, commented: “We are so excited to have moved into our new home at Albyn Terrace. Th

In 2019 a survey of Americans found that 55 per cent believe they will not receive their full social security benefits from the government, the US equivalent of the state pension. The primary reason for this belief is that there will not be enough money in the social security pot to pay out because

Insurance risk and commercial law firm BLM, which has offices in Edinburgh and Glasgow, has signed up to a flexible working charter launched by the Association of British Insurers (ABI). The ABI launched the #MakingFlexibleWork campaign earlier this year with the aim of increasing flexible working,

Restaurants must provide recyclable containers to diners who want to take food home under a new rule to curb food waste which has come into effect in France. Long seen as a practice associated with inferior US cuisine, restaurants will now be legally obliged to furnish doggy bags upon request. Only

The High Court of Justiciary has reduced the sentence of a man who was convicted of the attempted murder of a rival gang member after his case was referred to the court by the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission. Dillin Armstrong, who was 24 at the time of the offence, was given an e

Fundamental changes in the movement of people to and from the European Union, which will come into effect next year, require urgent preparation and clarification, the House of Lords Justice and Home Affairs Committee has said.  In a letter published today to the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, the

Jennifer Skeoch looks at indirect sex discrimination following the recent Employment Appeal Tribunal decision, Hughes v Progressive Support Limited. Over the past year or so, we have heard a lot about the far-reaching effects of the pandemic and recent research has suggested that working women, in p

Diversity data collected as part of the annual Practising Certificate (PC) renewal process has been published by the Law Society of Scotland today. Diversity questions were included for the first time in the 2020/21 PC renewal process, in order to give a better understanding of what the profession l

To mark the end of Pride Month, Beverley Addison, a senior solicitor in BTO’s family law team, takes us on a journey through the history of family law in Scotland for LGBTQ+ people. See part one here. The road to equality in marriage has been another long struggle for LGBTQ+ people. This inequ