News

A police dog reared from a puppy into an "absolute unit" has been retired before his first day of duty for being too "sweet-natured". Balou was eight weeks old when acquired by police in Bremerhaven, Germany, and was trained for nearly a year-and-a-half, The Times reports.

A citizen of Nigeria who challenged a finding that his petition for judicial review of the decision of the Home Secretary not to treat his further submissions as a fresh claim for asylum was not made within the statutory three-month time limit has had his reclaiming motion against the decision refus

In a rare moment of candour, Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis yesterday admitted that the British government was breaking international law by overriding the terms of the EU Withdrawal Agreement that dealt with the Northern Ireland protocol. Scottish Legal News will not be offering a prize t

The Scottish government has said it is "impossible" to recommend that the Scottish Parliament gives consent to the UK government's Internal Market Bill. The bill engages the Sewel Convention and therefore requires the consent of Holyrood.

Scottish Legal News is saddened to report the death of Dundee solicitor John Hall who died aged 52 on 1 September after a short battle with cancer. Mr Hall flew as a commercial pilot with Loganair before deciding to become a lawyer. 

The Law Society of Scotland has recommended changes to the Scottish government's planning policy to improve efficiency and transparency of the planning process. Its Planning Law Committee ran a consultation last year which sought views and feedback on the policy.

Fiona Caldow and Gareth Hale consider a recent decision by the Supreme Court on restrictive covenants in restraint of trade. In Peninsula Securities Limited v Dunnes Stores (Bangor) Limited [2020] UKSC 36, the Supreme Court upheld the terms of a lease, finding that a restrictive

The corporate finance teams at MacRoberts and French Duncan have supported energy firm Together Energy in its £14 million acquisition of Bristol's residential customer base. The sale will see Together Energy acquire 155,000 residential meter points and the Bristol Energy brand and systems.

Alison Bryce considers the uncertainty for the Scottish food and drink industry in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Over the last 47 years, the UK’s laws, regulations and processes have become inextricably linked with the European Union. There are a number of factors to consider in the inevitabl

The Royal Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow (RFPG) will be taking part in the Glasgow Doors Open Day which this year takes the form of a digital festival.

Benjamin Bestgen takes an honest look at marriage in his latest jurisprudential primer. See last week's here. During my legal studies, a professor opined that one of the most legally significant things the majority of people will ever do in their lives is to marry and divorce (the other th

A mob boss is facing assault charges after allegedly biting off and swallowing a prison guard's finger. Giuseppe Fanara, 60, has been serving a life sentence in Sicily for nearly two decades after murdering a police officer.

A construction company that unsuccessfully tendered for a local authority contract has failed to establish that the local authority was in breach of transparency obligations imposed on it by the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015.  AC Whyte & Company Ltd raised the actio

Calls have been made for subsidised traineeships for law students seeking to qualify as criminal defence solicitors in order to preserve equality of arms in the profession. Many criminal defence firms cannot afford to take on trainees, despite a willingness on the part of law students to become crim

The Justice Secretary has contacted senior lawyers as he prepares to ditch sections of the Scottish government's controversial hate crime proposals. Humza Yousaf is planning to remove sections of the bill to secure opposition support at Holyrood for the bill.