News

A man who attacked his dog with an iron and a bottle and struck it with his fists during a prolonged beating has been imprisoned for nine months and banned from owning animals for life. Daniel Murphy’s one-year-old Staffordshire Bull Terrier was left yelping and trembling in fear as he inflict

Hundreds of thousands of people living in new-build homes in Scotland are being excluded from jury service because outdated court IT systems do not recognise their addresses. Jurors are selected at random from a national address database, but senior court officials admit the system cannot process po

Five international organisations concerned with protest rights and civil liberties have written to Attorney General Richard Hermer, urging him to delay making a decision on whether to prosecute the hundreds of peaceful protesters arrested for holding placards expressing support for Palestine Action,

The Faculty of Advocates will again support the Scottish Legal Walks as a national sponsor alongside the Law Society of Scotland.

Syrian fighters affiliated with the country's interim government carried out "widespread and systematic" violence against Alawi civilians which likely amounted to war crimes, according to a new UN report. The UN Syria Commission of Inquiry yesterday published a 66-page report on the wave of violence

A man who defrauded businesses out of hundreds of thousands of pounds has been sentenced to five years in prison following a prosecution by the Crown Office. Barry Mackland was found guilty by a jury at the High Court in Edinburgh of defrauding three agricultural firms in a swindle worth £630,

On 8 August a Court of Session commercial judge refused to make a first order in a petition to wind up a company, declining to authorise its intimation and service. Instead the judge granted the respondents’ motion to dismiss the petition. The company had lodged a caveat and appeared by counse

The Crown Office has lodged a first notice to begin the court process for a discretionary fatal accident inquiry (FAI) into the death of James Forbes. Mr Forbes, 37, died on 15 January 2024 after a fall from height. He had been abducted and held against his will at a flat in Elphinstone Court, Aberd

A round-up of human rights stories from around the world. China urged to protect imprisoned activists facing human rights violations

Alex Robertson, an associate in Allan McDougall Solicitors’ personal injury team, has recently been certified by the Law Society of Scotland as a trauma-informed lawyer. The Law Society's trauma-informed lawyer certification programme was developed to equip lawyers with the necessary skills an

The US Justice Department has sacked a staff member who allegedly threw a Subway sandwich at a federal law enforcement officer. Sean Charles Dunn, 37, was fired yesterday after the incident, which follows the Trump administration's controversial deployment of federal law enforcement agencies in home

The Crown Office has decided not to proceed with the prosecution of a 74-year-old woman who was arrested earlier this year for holding a sign outside Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth II Hospital campus that read: “Coercion is a crime, here to talk, only if you want.” Rose Docherty wa

The Trump administration has rewritten and reduced the scope of the US government’s annual report on global human rights abuses, prompting accusations it has compromised the document’s credibility for political ends. The report, historically regarded as one of the most comprehensive gove

An American state is to consider a bill proposing to create a register of job applicants who fail to show at interviews. Ohio's House Bill 395 would allow employers to report applicants who skip interviews without notice, NBC4 Columbus reports.

Holyrood's presiding officer, Alison Johnstone MSP, has paid tribute to former presiding officer and MSP, Sir George Reid, following his death in the early hours of 12 August. Sir George served as deputy presiding officer from 1999 to 2003, and then as presiding officer from 2003 to 2007. He was ele