News

The Scottish government has said it is "impossible" to recommend that the Scottish Parliament gives consent to the UK government's Internal Market Bill. The bill engages the Sewel Convention and therefore requires the consent of Holyrood.

Scottish Legal News is saddened to report the death of Dundee solicitor John Hall who died aged 52 on 1 September after a short battle with cancer. Mr Hall flew as a commercial pilot with Loganair before deciding to become a lawyer. 

The Law Society of Scotland has recommended changes to the Scottish government's planning policy to improve efficiency and transparency of the planning process. Its Planning Law Committee ran a consultation last year which sought views and feedback on the policy.

Fiona Caldow and Gareth Hale consider a recent decision by the Supreme Court on restrictive covenants in restraint of trade. In Peninsula Securities Limited v Dunnes Stores (Bangor) Limited [2020] UKSC 36, the Supreme Court upheld the terms of a lease, finding that a restrictive

The corporate finance teams at MacRoberts and French Duncan have supported energy firm Together Energy in its £14 million acquisition of Bristol's residential customer base. The sale will see Together Energy acquire 155,000 residential meter points and the Bristol Energy brand and systems.

Alison Bryce considers the uncertainty for the Scottish food and drink industry in the event of a no-deal Brexit. Over the last 47 years, the UK’s laws, regulations and processes have become inextricably linked with the European Union. There are a number of factors to consider in the inevitabl

The Royal Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow (RFPG) will be taking part in the Glasgow Doors Open Day which this year takes the form of a digital festival.

Benjamin Bestgen takes an honest look at marriage in his latest jurisprudential primer. See last week's here. During my legal studies, a professor opined that one of the most legally significant things the majority of people will ever do in their lives is to marry and divorce (the other th

A mob boss is facing assault charges after allegedly biting off and swallowing a prison guard's finger. Giuseppe Fanara, 60, has been serving a life sentence in Sicily for nearly two decades after murdering a police officer.

A construction company that unsuccessfully tendered for a local authority contract has failed to establish that the local authority was in breach of transparency obligations imposed on it by the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015.  AC Whyte & Company Ltd raised the actio

Calls have been made for subsidised traineeships for law students seeking to qualify as criminal defence solicitors in order to preserve equality of arms in the profession. Many criminal defence firms cannot afford to take on trainees, despite a willingness on the part of law students to become crim

The Justice Secretary has contacted senior lawyers as he prepares to ditch sections of the Scottish government's controversial hate crime proposals. Humza Yousaf is planning to remove sections of the bill to secure opposition support at Holyrood for the bill.

Lanarkshire solicitor Lamont Baillie has died after colliding with a deer while cycling, The Times reports. Mr Baillie, 71, had worked with Ness Gallagher Solicitors in Wishaw.

A new survey by MHA Henderson Loggie reveals that solicitors in Scotland specialising in commercial dispute resolution and family law are anticipating an increase in workload due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey also revealed that two-thirds of solicitors expressed a lack of confidence that the

One of the UK government's most senior lawyers has become the latest in a line of civil servants to quit, seemingly over the government's U-turn on the Northern Ireland part of the Brexit deal. Sir Jonathan Jones QC has led the Government Legal Department (GLD) since 2014 (when it was known as TSol)