News

MSPs on the Scottish Parliament’s Justice Committee are calling for better mental health support for young people ordered into either secure care or a young offenders’ institution (YOI). The committee is calling for assessments of a young person’s needs to be made within the first

Lynda Towers takes a look at what the Children (Scotland) Bill might mean for Scotland’s youth. The Children (Scotland) Bill is currently at stage 1 in the Scottish Parliament and continues the current government's emphasis on improving rights and protections for children in Scotland. This bil

A Holyrood committee is undertaking an inquiry into protected trust deeds (PTDs) amid concerns over their use. PTDs are a type of insolvency, similar to bankruptcy, which commits the debtor to an agreed payment schedule in return for a substantial write-off of debt and protection from creditors.

Burness Paull advised on the corporate and capital-markets aspects of UK-based independent oil & gas company Savannah Petroleum plc’s deal to acquire the assets of Seven Energy in Nigeria, which involved a $125 million equity fundraising. Chris Gotts and Edward Hunter (corporate & capi

MacRoberts has been recognised at the British Legal Awards for the third year running. The corporate finance team was awarded the ‘Highly Commended’ accolade in the M&A Team of the Year category at the ceremony in London. MacRoberts, the only independent Scottish firm recognised at t

Digby Brown is fighting back against paper waste in the legal system by joining a scheme to create a forest in the Highlands.

Walking the Kiltwalk, running the Edinburgh marathon relay, and organising a staff ‘soup kitchen’, are just a few of the fundraising activities Law Society of Scotland staff have undertaken to raise a total of £7,708 for West Lothian Foodbank in the last year. Numerous bake sales,

A man sued a videogame company after his friend sold his character in the game Justice Online, worth almost £1.1 million, for £429. The Chinese man filed suit against Netease and his friend – who said he had mistakenly sold it for 3,888 yuan to a shrewd in-game buyer due to dizzine

The Royal Bank of Scotland has had an appeal rejected against a decision that it could not avoid paying out a successful payment protection insurance (PPI) mis-selling claim to a loan customer who became insolvent. The Inner House of the Court of Session upheld a decision of the

MSPs have said they are yet to hear a convincing case against members of the judiciary disclosing their pecuniary interests and society connections, The Times reports. Judges in all UK jurisdictions are required to declare relevant interests in cases before them but are not required to disclose them

Offenders will be required to contribute to the cost of supporting victims of crime from today. A new financial penalty will be imposed on all criminals who are sentenced to pay a court fine and the money raised will be banked in the Victim Surcharge Fund.

The Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) has reported its best ever year of performance in dealing with complaints about lawyers and law firms in Scotland. The SLCC annual report covers the SLCC’s performance in its 2018-19 operating year.

Morton Fraser has promoted commercial property expert Amar Wali to partner within its housebuilding and commercial real estate team. Mr Wali's appointment comes in the wake of a number of new client wins for the team in the past 12 months.

The Stair Society has announced the publication of its 66th volume. Edited by Dr Alice Taylor, The Laws of Medieval Scotland: Legal compilations from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, brings together collections of Scotland’s ‘auld lawes’ in a new edition featuring both the

DWF's Scottish corporate team has advised the corporate training platform backed by private equity fund Aliter Capital on the acquisition of Sponge UK Limited. This is the twelfth deal DWF has supported Aliter with since it was founded in 2016. This acquisition will see Sponge, a custom digital lear