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A woman who was made the subject of a confiscation order under “proceeds of crime” legislation after being convicted of a £50,000 tax fraud has failed in an appeal against her sentence. Joanne Mooney devised a scheme whereby she acted on behalf of others to secure tax rebates

An independent review of the handling of deaths in prisons is being established by the Scottish government. The purpose of the review is to identify and make recommendations for areas for improvement to ensure appropriate and transparent arrangements are in place in the immediate aftermath of deaths

A proposal to make civil partnerships available to different-sex couples is to be scrutinised by MSPs on the Scottish Parliament’s Equalities and Human Rights Committee. The committee has issued a call for views on the Civil Partnership (Scotland) Bill, which would amend existing legislation t

Just Employment Law has announced the promotion of Louise Walker to associate director. Ms Walker has worked with the firm throughout her legal career, having initially joined JEL as a trainee solicitor before moving up the ranks.Managing director David McRae said: “We are delighted to as

A solicitor has been elected to represent Scotland at a global level as part of a worldwide professional network. Ian Macdonald, partner at Wright, Johnston & Mackenzie LLP, was re-elected as a STEP (The Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners) council member following a members’ vote, a

Two commemorative plaques highlighting the importance of the ‘snail in a bottle case’, which laid the foundations of the modern law of negligence, have been refurbished and unveiled in Paisley today as part of the Law Society of Scotland’s 70th anniversary celebrations. The world-f

A member of the Faculty of Advocates with strong European links has been speaking at an international conference in Tbilisi to celebrate the centenary of the Georgian bar. Iain Mitchell QC, attended the event at the invitation of the Georgia office of the Council of Europe and the Georgian Bar Assoc

Harvard Law School could be sued by Antigua and Barbuda unless it provides compensation for its founding benefactor's participation in the slave trade in the same way as Glasgow University. Gaston Browne, the country’s prime minister, said his government considered “Harvard’s failu

It’s becoming part of the Festive tradition, and this year every effort is again being made by the Faculty of Advocates to “bring Christmas to life” for families in need. The family support charity, Home-Start Glenrothes, will receive all donations to the appeal, and they know the

In 1937 a story emerged in the Irish press about a girl from Glasgow called Julia Clarke who had been sentenced, in absentia, to one month's imprisonment for “kissing a boyfriend in public”. Ms Clarke and the (notably unnamed) local boy had been seen kissing on church property in Blackro

A round-up of human rights stories from around the world. UK policies embolden human rights violations in Bahrain amid abuse of female activists, MPs warn | The Independent

A building in Moscow where 50,000 people were sentenced to death under Stalin is at the centre of a dispute over plans to turn it into a perfume shop and restaurant. Victims of Stalin’s Great Terror were taken to the three-storey court building on Nikolskaya Street, near the Kremlin to be told

A Vietnamese asylum-seeker who claimed he was the victim of human trafficking and was a practising Catholic has successfully challenged a decision to refuse permission to appeal against a decision to reject his application. A judge in the Court of Session reduced the decision of the Upper

A new initiative will see three sheriff courts, Dundee, Hamilton and Paisley, piloting a new approach to test the benefits of stronger judicial case management and earlier engagement with the Crown and defence agents in summary cases. These pilots follow on from other Scottish Courts and Tribunals S

Protecting women from exploitation must be a key objective of plans to reform the law on surrogacy, the Faculty of Advocates has said. Proposals for a new pathway to legal parenthood have been included in a joint consultation paper by the Scottish Law Commission and the Law Commission of Englan