News

A suspected phone thief has been arrested after police allegedly found more than 30 mobile phones in his cycle shorts. Police recovered the phones after blocking the exits at a rock concert when dozens of people reported lost phones.

A global infrastructure survey by Pinsent Masons has revealed that there is still a lack of understanding of technology across the sector, which is prohibiting change. The research, which explored the digital transformation of the infrastructure sector, found that 64 per cent of respondents said tha

So Brexit is done. My mother still recalls the news on 19 April 1945, sixteen days before the war’s end, that Germans had executed her grandfather in prison in Copenhagen for membership of the Danish Resistance. His daughter and son-in-law, my Danish grandparents, had themselves not long befor

Levy & McRae is to seek leave to appeal a decision which has significant implications for the way the profession bills clients. The firm announced the move following the decision in a case raised by former client Robert Kidd. The firm successfully acted for Mr Kidd and his business in a damages

It is understood that the firm will be seeking leave to appeal. The success fee provisions of an agreement between a Scottish law firm and its clients in a multi-million pound commercial action and the terms agreed by the firm when it instructed an advocate to act in the case were “illegal and

A sheriff has expressed anger over the “deplorable” seven year wait for a fatal accident inquiry into a North Sea helicopter disaster. Four offshore workers were killed when a Super Puma helicopter crashed on its approach to Sumburgh airport in Shetland in August 2013.

The Scottish Legal Complaints Commission (SLCC) has opened a consultation on its budget and operating plan for 2020-21, as well as its strategy for 2020-24. The consultation proposes a budget increase of 3.5 per cent to meet the cost of the SLCC discharging its duties against a background of four ye

Jenny Dickson explains what public authorities ought to know about FOI requests, which they are routinely failing to timeously satisfy, if at all. The Scottish Information Commissioner has reported a year-on-year rise in freedom of information (FOI) requests, with an eight per cent increase in reque

A sixth member of the family law team at Balfour and Manson has been accredited as a specialist in the field by the Law Society of Scotland. Jamie Foulis joins colleagues Shona Smith, Linda Walker, Iain Thomson, Kirsten Knight and Anne McTaggart, who have already been recognised for their skill in f

Disabled people working in the legal profession face outmoded practices that hamper their efforts to build successful careers, according to a new study by researchers at Cardiff University. Many of the participants – drawn from across the legal profession – told researchers they hide the

John West, an associate at SKO, talks about developments in family law in recent years, the centrality of EU regulations to the field and the uncertainty posed by Brexit. Watch the video here

A mother and daughter have been awarded compensation after they were left ravaged by bedbugs at an Edinburgh guest house. Ildiko Kolosvary, 53, suffered an allergic reaction to bedbugs during a stay at the now-defunct Regis Guest House in Gilmour Place, Edinburgh.

Trekking for three days in sub-zero conditions may leave many people cold, but Terra Firma’s Robert Sutherland enjoyed a “fantastic experience”.

Murray Beith Murray has announced that its charity partner for 2020 is to be Children’s Hospices Across Scotland (CHAS), a charity which offers full family support for children with life-shortening conditions. Senior partner Hugh Younger said: “Staff and partners overwhelmingly voted for

A man has been jailed after brazenly smoking a joint while in the dock for alleged possession of cannabis. After delivering a polemic against the criminalisation of the drug, Spencer Boston, 20, pulled out a joint and lit it.