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In his latest jurisprudential primer, Benjamin Bestgen explains why there is more to the concept of 'hard work' than meets the eye. See his last post here. The legal profession and many others are notorious for being associated with stressful work, tight deadlines and demanding unsociable, even unhe

Following the success of its first lockdown webinar this week, Local Government in Challenging Times, Terra Firma Chambers has announced a further series of webinars entitled "2020 Vision", which will be a virtual replacement for its annual seminar ‘roadshow’.

The state of Georgia cannot sue a charity for republishing an annotated version of its official legal code, the Supreme Court of the United States has narrowly ruled. The annotated code, produced by legal publisher LexisNexis, was only available for a fee until Public.Resource.Org republished it onl

Robert Pirrie WS, chief executive of the WS Society, tells the story of William Roughead, the Edinburgh lawyer who became the father of the ‘true crime’ genre and the celebrated trial for murder of Miss Madelaine Smith. Amongst the many remarkable collections of the Signet Library,

A man who was sentenced to six years’ imprisonment for raping a woman in an Edinburgh hotel has had his appeal against conviction refused. Basharat Khan appealed on the ground that the trial judge had misdirected the jury in relation to the adoption of prior statements. A co-accused was a

The Law Society of Scotland has accused the Scottish Legal Complaints Commission of being ‘tone-deaf’ to the current crisis facing the legal profession after the SLCC published its financial plans for the coming year. The SLCC has laid its final budget for 2020/21 before the Scottish Par

With the Community Right to Buy for Sustainable Development having come into effect last weekend, land commissioner Megan MacInnes looks at what it means for communities and for land reform. Last weekend marked the launch of the latest in the Scottish government’s land reform toolkit – t

Interested members of the public may now 'dial-in' to listen to substantive Court of Session Inner House appeals.

A woman has been jailed for 22 months after she embezzled more than £239,000 while working for James McVicar Printers as an accounts manager. Sarah Cockburn abused her position of trust at the firm to make 799 payments into her own bank accounts while working there from January 2013 to Ju

Poland's most senior judge and one of the strongest critics of the country's controversial justice reforms has firmly criticised the government as her term in office comes to a close. Malgorzata Gersdorf, who became the first woman to hold the position of 'first president' of the Supreme Court on he

Hathi, pronounced “hah-tee”, is the Hindi word for “elephant”, an animal famed for its long memory. The HathiTrust Digital Library is a large-scale collaborative repository of digital content from research libraries including content digitised via Google Books and the Interne

An emergency hardship fund has been established for barristers to support junior lawyers in financial distress as many do not qualify for the UK government's coronavirus support scheme. The Barristers’ Benevolent Association has created the fund and the four Inns of Court are making packages t

For over two centuries and through two World Wars the Signet Library has never closed its doors, except for Christmas Day, New Year and other holidays. Robert Pirrie WS, chief executive of the WS Society, reflects on the temporary shuttering of this exceptional place in the time of the COVID-19 pan

The death penalty can be handed down for the theft or destruction of manhole covers, Chinese judges have been told. A statement from the country's top legal and judicial bodies reminds judges that suspects can be charged with "endangering transportation" or "endangering public safety", which have a

Former Thorntons chairman Jack Robertson has passed away at the age of 71. Mr Robertson was born in Dundee and studied law at Dundee University. He was admitted as a solicitor in 1972 and joined Fergusson, Robertson, Stephen and Norrie, becoming a partner in 1976. The firm became Thorntons following