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We are now starting to see employment tribunals grappling with Covid-19 related workplace issues. Some of these involve claims from employees with less than two years' service seeking to argue that their dismissals were automatically unfair for health and safety reasons, writes Julie Keir. Automatic

Strathclyde Law School's Centre for Law, Crime & Justice will lead a new study into the quality of sentencing data. Commissioned by the Judicial Council of the Republic of Ireland, Professor Cyrus Tata will lead an international team of experts to examine the quality of available data about sent

Professor Martin Hogg has been named head of NUI Galway School of Law with effect from November. Professor Hogg will join NUI Galway from the University of Edinburgh, where he has served as head of school and dean of law since 2017.

Elaine Elder discusses the implications of the new policy adopted by Aberdeen City Council to tackle the local empty-housing crisis. Aberdeen City Council has adopted a new policy to tackle the local empty-housing crisis.

India's most senior judge has said that the use of English in courts should be abandoned and that the wearing of colonial court dress should be discarded. While English is not recognised as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India, historical attempts to bring an end to its use in other contexts h

Funeral directors in the UK have been ordered to display a standardised price list in their windows and on their websites. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) gave the funerals sector three months to implement changes to make it easier for families to arrange a funeral within their budget.

The English Court of Appeal has allowed an appeal by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions against a decision that a widow of a formerly polygamous marriage was entitled to Bereavement Payment and Widowed Parent’s Allowance. Nasim Akhtar, the respondent, had married her husband, A, in P

Time bar is a very complex area of law in Scotland relating to the period in which a claim for breach of duty can be pursued. The Scottish government has recently reformed the law and passed the Prescription (Scotland) Act 2018 – but it is not yet in force. In the meantime, the recent dec

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) will take Teletext Holidays to court unless the firm takes urgent action to improve how it handles refunds to package holiday customers. On 26 May, the CMA announced that Truly Holdings Ltd, the company that operates Teletext Holidays, and its sister compa

CMS is teaming up with fellow experts to host a free-to-attend event exploring how an increased focus on the environment will impact Scotland’s renewable energy sector going forward. The latest Future of Renewables webinar takes place at 09.30 on Tuesday, 5 October.

Holyrood's Constitution, Europe, External Affairs and Culture Committee has launched an inquiry into the Scottish government’s international work. The committee is seeking to engage with stakeholders on what the Scottish government’s external affairs policy could look like, recommend wha

The International Criminal Court has authorised an investigation into the Philippine president’s “war on drugs”. It said in a statement that the war on drugs in the country appeared to be a “widespread and systematic attack against the civilian population”, which occurr

Protection for employees and obligations on employers in Long Covid cases and employee surveillance at work are just two of the topics to be tackled at CLT Scotland’s Employment Conference taking place online on Wednesday 22 September. Chaired by Morton Fraser’s Lindsey Cartwright, the c

Ireland has been fined over €15 million and is continuing to accrue daily fines of €15,000 for failing to comply with a European court order linked to a wind farm development. The Grand Chamber of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) imposed pecuniary penalties on Ireland in N

Queensland has become the fifth Australian state to permit euthanasia. Terminally ill people in the state will be able to access drugs to end their own lives after the state legislature voted to legalise the practice.