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The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) is seeking feedback on the draft journalism code of practice about processing personal data for the purposes of journalism.  This is a statutory code under section 124 of the Data Protection Act 2018. The consultation will close on Monday 10 January 2

The so-called "gay cake" case could return to the domestic courts following a "disappointing" ruling from the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), lawyers have said. The ECtHR ruled that the case brought by Gareth Lee against the United Kingdom was inadmissible because Mr Lee did not explicitly r

Iain Drummond considers a recent case that provides lessons for the construction sector concerning the enforcement of adjudicators’ decisions by companies in liquidation. The recent case of John Doyle Construction (JDC) v Erith Contractors Limited provides two lessons for the construction sect

This month may prove to be the “most challenging time of the pandemic”, according to the head of the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service. Eric McQueen has warned that the increasing level of positive Covid cases and need to self-isolate are likely to cause further case delays and that

The Scottish government’s Consultation on Regulation of the Legal Profession closed on Christmas Eve. The Scottish Law Agents’ Society’s response, authored by its council member Ken Swinton, notes the importance of proper regulation of will writing and confirmation work – two

John Edwards has taken up the role of UK information commissioner. Mr Edwards, who joins on a five-year term, spent the past eight years as New Zealand privacy commissioner and before that worked as a barrister.

Anti-racism campaigners have celebrated a jury's decision to find protestors who toppled a statue of a slave trader in Bristol not guilty of criminal damage. Jake Skuse 33, Rhian Graham, 30, Milo Ponsford, 26, and Sage Willoughby, 22, admitted participating in toppling the statue and throwing it in

New Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) board members Richard McMeeken, John Stevenson and Jean Grier have taken up office. Their appointments are for five years. They replace Kay Springham, Denise Loney, Sara Hesp and Sarah McLuckie who have reached the end of their terms with the SLCC.

The lasting power of attorney system in England and Wales is open to fraud due to a lack of routine identity checks, a BBC investigation has found. A fraudster was granted genuine lasting power of attorney over a woman's financial affairs using fake names and forged signatures, according to the inve

A Glasgow man who was convicted of sexually assaulting two women in a Glasgow nightclub on New Year’s Day 2020 and sentenced to a community payback order has lost an appeal against both convictions. Jack Ferguson was convicted by a jury of two charges under sections 2 and 3 of the Sexual

A celebrity chef has won defamation proceedings brought against a food critic who wrote a scathing review of his "bland risotto". Italian chef Carlo Cracco sued Achille Ottaviani, editor of La Cronaca di Verona, over his assessment of the food served at an international wine festival in 2016.

Convictions imposed on people for consensual homosexual activity under former laws will be included in a scheme for “righting the wrongs of the past”, Home Secretary Priti Patel is to announce. Ms Patel said more people would have convictions for same-sex sexual activity removed from the

House-buyers in Edinburgh have paid an average £40,000 more for their homes in the past year, Lindsays has found. The firm has shared the year-on-year value rise in the properties it sold as its experts predict a busy start to the market in 2022.

Susan Scott has been promoted to partner at McCash & Hunter LLP. Ms Scott undertook her traineeship with McCash and Hunter and worked with the firm for a number of years. She spent a period of time working in Inverness before rejoining the firm in 2018.

Some 2,000 mobile phones have been confiscated from prisoners in Scotland because of rule breaches. The figures were obtained in a freedom of information request made by the Scottish Conservatives, who said phones given to inmates earlier in the pandemic should now be taken back.