News

A consultation on new legislation on the sale and use of fireworks and tackling the misuse of pyrotechnics has been published. The proposed Fireworks and Pyrotechnics Bill follows the report of an independent Fireworks Review Group which recommended tightening legislation to reduce the harm firework

Police Scotland has launched a new team in the north east to help tackle cyber-enabled crimes. Based in Aberdeen, the 'cyber-enabled crime team' will work alongside national units within Police Scotland to help develop specialist knowledge locally, enhance investigations and develop preventative str

What is the CMA doing about 'greenwashing'? Scott Rodger explains all. The ethical consumer market in the UK has increased four-fold since 1999 and is now conservatively estimated at over £40 billion per annum. Consumers are actively changing their behaviours in favour of more sustainable

Jacqueline Fordyce has been appointed as a member of the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission.  Her appointment was announced earlier this week by Justice Secretary Keith Brown. The role of the SCCRC, established in 1999, is to consider alleged miscarriages of justice.

Around 1,600 suspects have been held on remand for over a year awaiting delayed Crown Court trials in England and Wales amid an enormous backlog which a £40 million cash injection has failed to resolve, according to reports. There are 40,000 cases waiting to be heard in the Crown Court –

The Scottish Law Librarians' Group, in association with the Advocates Library, will host an online event entitled House of Commons Library and Briefing Paper Research next month.  The SLLG committee and Advocates Library hope the event will be of great interest to law librarians, legal professi

US law firms in London have begun another NQ salary battle after Milbank increased base salaries for NQs by $10,000 to $200,000 (£140,000). The firm was swiftly followed by rivals Davis Polk & Wardwell, who bumped theirs to $202,500 for first-year associates worldwide and Akin Gump, who ma

A widower has been ordered to return his late wife's estate after breaking a clause in her will preventing him from remarrying. The man, known only as Constantino, was taken to court in Spain by his late wife's sister in a row over an alleged affair, The Times reports.

A judge in the Outer House of the Court of Session has found that a married couple who were granted refugee status are entitled to a reduction of a decision by the tax authority not to accept their claim for backdated child tax credits. Ali and Saima Adnan were granted refugee status

Bad faith actors are making crypto-political arguments in the legal arena, the Lord Chancellor has suggested. In a speech delivered at a conference on constitutional reform at University College London, Robert Buckland QC MP suggested the concept of the 'rule of law' was being abused for political e

The handling of rape cases by police and prosecutors is to be scored for the first time under new plans to raise the number of rape cases reaching court. Ministers want the number of suspects being charged to return to 2016 levels and "scorecards" measuring “timeliness, quality and victim enga

Elizabeth Denham, the UK Information Commissioner, expresses serious concern over facial recognition technology. Facial recognition technology brings benefits that can make aspects of our lives easier, more efficient and more secure. The technology allows us to unlock our mobile phones, set up

New rules have been introduced into Scottish courts that mean from 30 June, the majority of parties seeking damages for personal injuries or death will not be liable for the expenses of their opponent if their action fails, writes Bruce Craig. The rules represent a fundamental change in the way expe

The Scottish Liberal Democrats have criticised "pointless drug prosecutions". Speaking at yesterday's Holyrood debate on drug-related deaths, the party's health spokesperson Alex Cole-Hamilton stressed the importance of trauma-informed care when dealing with addiction and its treatment.

Poland could face EU infringement proceedings over its repeated attempts to bring disciplinary proceedings against the lawyer of Donald Tusk, a prominent opponent of the Polish government, an Advocate General of the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has suggested. Advocate General Michal