News

A woman is suing Kellogg's for $5 million, alleging the company's strawberry Pop-Tarts contain very little strawberry. Filed earlier this month in the Southern District of New York, the suit is the latest in a series of class actions against Kellogg Sales.

The nieces of a deceased Irish citizen who executed her will in Scotland have failed in their application to have the writing on the back of an envelope containing a copy of the will recognised as an adjunct or codicil to it. Christina Cummins and Bridget Tierney, the nieces of the late Mary Downey,

David Davis MP has pledged to lead a rebellion against the government’s proposed changes to judicial review, branding them an assault on the legal system. Before the first test of the Judicial Review and Courts Bill in the Commons today, Mr Davis wrote in an article for The Guardian that the p

A three year limitation period applies in the majority of injury claims in both Scotland and England, with the courts in both jurisdictions having equitable discretion to allow a claim to proceed despite being issued late. This raises the question of the effect in this context of a period of delay o

The Scotsman has published an obituary for John Watt Wightman CVO CBE RD* WS, lawyer and commodore, who passed away on 19 September 2021, aged 87. "John Wightman was born in Leith, to solicitor Robert Johnson Wightman and Edith Laing. Shortly after he was joined by sister Edith Mary. John recalled p

Shepherd and Wedderburn partner Louisa Knox has been appointed as a non-executive board director at Scottish Financial Enterprise (SFE). Ms Knox specialises in pensions law, working on a range of clients on all pensions related matters including ongoing advisory, scheme restructuring, ESG and r

In 2020-21, 58 victims of homicide were recorded, 12 per cent (eight victims) fewer than the 66 victims recorded in 2019-20. Of the 58 victims, 83 per cent (48) were male. Scotland’s Chief Statistician today published Homicide in Scotland, 2020-21. The publication provides information on crime

A Spanish law governing the registration of births that gives the father's name immutable precedence over the mother's where there is a disagreement falls foul of the ECHR, the European Court of Human Rights has ruled. The Article 14 case concerned the applicant’s request to reverse the order

Robert Milligan QC's new book Funding Personal Injury Litigation in Scotland is now available to purchase. 2021 has been a landmark year in the funding of personal injury litigation in Scotland. Long-awaited changes in relation to damages based agreements (DBAs) and qualified one way cost

Plans to offer "automatic online convictions" to people charged with minor offences will lead to "trigger-happy justice", campaigners have said. The UK government's controversial Judicial Review and Courts Bill, which returns to the Commons floor today, will allow for people charged with minor offen

A Scottish environmental charity has successfully challenged the manner in which licences for lethal control of beavers in Scotland were issued by way of petition for judicial review in the Outer House of the Court of Session. Trees For Life sought nine declarators as well as the reduction of 49 lic

The Scottish government has "no understanding" of the seriousness of the legal aid problem, a lawyer has said. The reaction follows a letter from from legal affairs minister Ash Regan to Ken Dalling, president of the Law Society of Scotland, and Julia McPartlin, president of the Scottish Solicitors

Legal academic Navraj Singh Ghaleigh has authored and coordinated an open letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the future of oil and gas exploration in the United Kingdom, ahead of COP26. With recent climate events highlighting the worsening impacts of the climate crisis, the cost of delaying m

Macdonald Henderson announced six hires and two senior promotions.

We will hear lots about net-zero targets and tackling climate change in the coming weeks as COP26 arrives in Glasgow. Scotland has set itself the ambitious target of reducing emissions of all greenhouse gases to net zero by 2045. The rest of the UK, in common with most other countries, is targeting