News

A civil liberties campaigner who appealed a decision of the Divisional Court that the use of automated facial recognition (AFR) technology by the South Wales Police Force was compatible with Article 8 of the ECHR has succeeded in respect of three of the five appeal grounds.  The appellant, 

Social distancing guidelines were not always followed at a prison in which six inmates have tested positive for coronavirus. HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland found that staff at HMP Kilmarnock occasionally failed to wear personal protective equipment when they were unable to observe the two-m

Two new protocols published today by the Scottish Land Commission aim to help give communities a greater stake in how land is owned and used in Scotland. The protocols set out expectations of landowners to assess use and ownership of their landholdings as part of their normal business and to work to

Scottish animal welfare campaigns charity OneKind has called for an end to driven grouse shooting today, the Glorious Twelfth – the first day of the grouse shooting season. Large areas of upland Scotland are used for driven grouse shooting, with the land being managed to maximise the number of

Thorley Stephenson SSC has announced the appointment of Emma Murdoch as a trainee at the firm. Ms Murdoch will join the family team and will work alongside Nyree Conway, director, and Lesley Turner, associate.

Janis McDonald, chief officer at deafscotland, highlights the importance of inclusive communication – sharing information in a way that everybody can understand. Inclusive communication is short on money, focus and understanding with a distance to go to meet the needs of the one million p

The deadline for applying to become a Lawscot Foundation mentor is looming. Lawscot Foundation mentors are solicitors or trainee solicitors who support, encourage and guide students – mentees – through their legal education journey as they make the transition from school to university, t

Benjamin Bestgen considers the pitfalls of statistics in his latest jurisprudential primer. See last week's here. Being falsely convicted for murdering one's children is likely amongst the worst experiences any person can have. In 1998, solicitor Sally Clark was convicted of the murders of her two b

A woman who recently renewed her driver's license was left laughing after the new license came back with a photo of an empty chair. Jane Dodd, of Hickman County in the US state of Tennessee, renewed her license only to discover that a clerical error meant the photo on her ID was of an empty chair.

An appeal by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs against a decision to recall a sequestration under the Bankruptcy (Scotland) Act 1985 has been refused in the Civil Division of the Sheriff Appeal Court.  In the appeal against the sheriff’s decision on the application of the Accountant

A letter published today includes support from over 20 individuals and organisations highlighting their “concerns” over the impact on free expression of the widely derided Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill. The letter co-ordinated by Humanist Society Scotland has support f

Corporate insolvencies may increase this winter, with new research from the insolvency and restructuring trade body R3 indicating that a steep rise may start as early as this October. The R3 research – based on a member survey of insolvency and restructuring professionals – highligh

Human rights group Liberty has won a ground-breaking legal challenge against police use of facial recognition technology. In a judgment handed down today, the Court of Appeal agreed with Liberty’s submissions, on behalf of Cardiff resident Ed Bridges, 37, and found South Wales Police’s u

A coalition including Human Rights Watch and 160 other NGOs has published a report on the use of fully autonomous weapons and calling for a ban on the use of so-called "killer robots". The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots was launched in 2013 and since then there have been increasing calls to ban the

Carly Forrest, Lauren Kerr and Craig Fulton of Brodies look ahead to Scottish gyms reopening in September. When social distancing measures were introduced in March, we were only allowed to leave our homes for four reasons: medical needs, shopping for basic necessities, travel to and from work (