News

Cross-justice collaboration has improved the efficiency of summary criminal business in the sheriff courts, a report has shown. The Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service report on pre-intermediate diet meetings (PIDMs) shows that engagement in the procedure increased from a national average of 53 pe

Ampersand’s Graeme Hawkes QC, Archie MacSporran QC and Laura-Anne van der Westhuizen QC have taken silk. The trio are amongst 12 new silks appointed yesterday. Graeme Hawkes QC is an experienced commercial litigator, with a particular emphasis on commercial contracts, property and professional

Five Scottish solicitors have been granted extended rights of audience. The new solicitor advocates will be allowed to exercise their extended rights of audience in the Court of Session, the Supreme Court and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

You visit a website; on the landing page, before you go any further, you are often asked to make decisions about ‘cookies’, quite often a slider to switch on or off. Some websites, however, don’t ask you to make any decisions and some do not even have a cookie policy. Does any of t

TLT has secured new office space in the heart of Glasgow’s commercial district, taking 10,000 sq. ft. in the city’s new flagship Cadworks development. The development is set to be one of the most sustainable in Scotland. The announcement follows the launch of TLT’s progressive full

Susie Mountain, accredited family law specialist at Brodies LLP, has become a solicitor advocate following an introduction to the court ceremony at the Court of Session yesterday. Already a family law specialist and author of the book A Practical Guide to Cohabitation and the Law in Scotland, this n

The Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI) has elected Shepherd and Wedderburn partner Joanna Boag-Thomson as its chair. Ms Boag-Thomson, a media and technology specialist, was first appointed to the SCDI Board in 2019 and was elected vice chair the following year. An acknowledged expe

Crimestoppers Scotland is offering a reward of up to £10,000 for anonymous information in connection with the historic case of the murder of Shona Stevens.

Thorntons took part in the organised cycle from Glasgow to Edinburgh on Sunday to raise funds for Social Bite’s new villages, which will house and provide support to people affected by homelessness. The cycle started at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome in Glasgow and finished 60 miles later in Edin

UN human rights experts have condemned an extremely restrictive new abortion ban in Texas as "structural sex and gender-based discrimination at its worst" – while a court ruling in neighbouring Mexico has paved the way for abortion to be decriminalised.

The Pope sent 15,000 ice creams to inmates at two Rome prisons in an act of charity this summer. The Office of Papal Charities said on Tuesday that it "has made small evangelical gestures to help and give hope to thousands of people in Rome's prisons".

A prisoner who challenged a decision of the Parole Board that he should not be released from prison on licence has had his petition for judicial review of the decision refused by the Outer House of the Court of Session. Dean Ryan, who had previously been in closed prison conditions, argued that the

One of Scotland’s judges has joined the University of Strathclyde’s Law School as a professor of practice. Lady Wolffe, Sarah P L Wolffe QC, has been a judge in the Outer House of the Court of Session since 2014 and, in 2016, became the first woman to be appointed to the Commercial Court

The Scottish Land Court and the Lands Tribunal for Scotland are to be unified to form an expanded Land Court. It will create a “one-stop shop”, which will be a "more efficient arrangement than currently offered".

The Law Society of Scotland has accused the Scottish government of dragging its feet on legal aid reform following the announcement of its programme for government. An independent legal aid review, which reported over three years ago, recommended an overhaul of the system. However, while the governm