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Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross has vowed to scrap the not proven verdict. At the party’s conference in Perth, he said the verdict “serves no useful purpose in a modern justice system”.

Two family lawyers at Brodies LLP have received Law Society of Scotland accreditations. Accreditation acts as a hallmark of expertise that clients can trust. It recognises solicitors who develop specialist knowledge in a particular area of law.

Solicitor advocate Robert More calls for the preservation of the not proven verdict and argues in favour of reforming Scotland's jury system. Last week I had my first experience of the virtual jury system which Lady Dorrian’s working party secured to ensure the continuation during lockdown of

A national advocacy service has been launched to reinforce the rights of children involved in the children’s hearings system. The service, backed by £1.5 million in 2020-2021, means children and young people will be offered support to express their needs and views on decisions that affec

The International Bar Association (IBA) and International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) have condemned "hostile comments" by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Home Secretary Priti Patel regarding the work of lawyers. In a party conference speech last month, Mr Johnson s

Shepherd and Wedderburn corporate finance team has reported a busy first half of the 2020/21 financial year, supporting clients with strong and sustained deal activity despite the challenging environment created by the Covid-19 pandemic. The firm’s corporate finance lawyers advised on deals wi

CMS has advised M-Squared Lasers group (MSL) and its management team, on a complex, £32.5m multi-jurisdictional financing transaction to acquire a substantial part of business growth fund’s (BGF) shareholding in MSL. The deal also incorporates a significant investment into MSL by the new

The Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) has published its annual report, showing strong overall performance, despite the impact of Covid-19. Key highlights include ending the year with the lowest ‘work in progress’ in many years, without any backlogs at any stage in the complaint

A new video features Benjamin Ferencz, the last living Nuremberg prosecutor, discussing his life and role in the famous trials. At age 27, in his first turn as a prosecutor, Mr Ferencz led what was then called "the biggest murder trial in history."

Online shoppers who shelled out hundreds of pounds for a new PlayStation 5 console have been left disappointed after instead receiving bags of grain, rice, cat food or nothing at all. Amazon has announced an investigation into what it said was a "small proportion" of orders which had apparently fall

A tenant of commercial premises in Granton, Edinburgh, has been unsuccessful in its action against an agent of its landlord for reduction of invoices and repayment of sums it alleged were wrongfully paid to its landlord’s agents.  The Glasgow Angling Centre Ltd, which was assigned the ten

A crowdfunder has been established for the appeal against conviction of the late Abdelbaset al-Megrahi over the Lockerbie bombing. Mr Megrahi was convicted on 31 January 2001 for the murders of the 243 passengers and the 16 crew on board Pan Am Flight 103 from London to New York, and 11 residents of

The practice of sending elderly patients to live in locked units in Scotland has been brought to an end following court action by the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The EHRC said it reached a settlement on ending the "unlawful detention of adults with incapacity" by NHS Greater Glasgow and Cl

LAR Housing Trust has announced the appointment of Philip Rodney as its new chair while three new trustees have joined the housing charity's board. Mr Rodney, a consultant, columnist and non-executive director was formerly chair of Burness Paull. He joined LAR’s board in April last y

The criminal justice system is being brought “to its knees” in England and Wales, James Mulholland QC has said. The chair of the Criminal Bar Association told The Guardian that the pandemic had worsened the crisis but that severe cuts to the Ministry of Justice since 2010 had left it dan