News

Dr Jonathan Hardman has been promoted to senior lecturer at Edinburgh Law School. His appointment will take effect from August.

The Scottish government’s new Strategy for Economic Transformation for the next decade has been drawn up. The strategy focuses on the three areas of promoting investment, start-up business ventures and new green industries, and its goal is to see the Scottish economy outperform economic growth

Womble Bond Dickinson (WBD) has confirmed three senior promotions in Scotland as part of its UK-wide growth. Chris McLauchlan, Lisa Dromgoole and Emily Pike from the firm’s Edinburgh office have been appointed as partners.

Hamish Lean discusses how farmers in Scotland have been outbid by the forestry industry, as the value of hill land rises. Is productive agricultural land being lost to forestry in the race to meet net-zero? There has been concern within the agricultural industry for some time that this is the case.

India's court case backlog stands at 48 million and will take 480 years to clear at the current rate, lawyers have said. There are delays in both criminal and civil cases, with many of them concluding long after the parties concerned have died.

A prison officer at HMP Barlinnie who claimed to have been injured during an attempt to return a difficult prisoner to his cell has failed in an action against his employers. Alexander Gemmell, who had worked as a prison officer since 1991, alleged that his employers, the Scottish Ministers, owed hi

A move by the Scottish government to introduce a requirement for consumers to have a licence to buy certain categories of fireworks will need to be clearly communicated to the public, according to the Faculty of Advocates. The Faculty was responding to the Scottish government’s consultation on

A recent drug bust saw a sheriff arrest his own daughter for alleged possession of methamphetamine. “Methamphetamine does not discriminate and neither do we,” said Florida's Franklin County Sheriff A.J. Smith in a Facebook post.

A black man who spent 30 years in jail for a murder in Miami has been freed after prosecutors concluded there had been a case of mistaken identity. Thomas Raynard James was 23 when he was convicted of murdering Francis McKinnon, who was shot dead on January 17, 1990 in front of his family after two

Terra Firma Chambers' Robert Skinner is to retire after a career spanning five decades at the Scottish bar. Today marks his last official day in practice before retiring with effect from 1 May. 

New legislation to ensure that all youngsters have the opportunity to experience at least one week of residential outdoor education will move a step closer today as Liz Smith MSP launches the formal consultation period on her member’s bill. The Scottish Conservative MSP believes that outdoor e

Businesses that breach UK consumer protection laws will be subject to fines of up to 10 per cent of their annual global turnover under proposed changes to UK legislation. The plans are part of a broader suit of legislative changes which will bolster the UK’s consumer law enforcement regime. Ou

A 56-year-old fishing boat skipper has been fined £3,211 after being found guilty of illegal fishing in a marine protected area off Scotland’s northwest coast. Alex Murray, of the Isle of Lewis, was in charge of the FV Star of Annan while it was operating with its fishing gear deployed w

A solicitor has detailed the significant volume of work involved in domestic abuse cases following an announcement by defence lawyers that they are boycotting them. The Scottish Solicitors Bar Association (SSBA) said this week that is members would no longer accept new instructions in summary cases

Italian children will no longer be compelled by law to take their fathers' surnames following a ruling of the country's Constitutional Court this week. The decision states that parents should be permitted to give their children either or both parents' surnames. In Italy, women keep their maiden name