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A solicitor who specialises in contract law expects we will soon see an increased appetite for inserting ‘virus clauses’ into future contracts as a result of the current COVID-19 crisis. Stephen Cotton, partner at Wright, Johnston & Mackenzie LLP, said: “Hindsight is a wonderfu

Kate Dowdalls QC discusses the Scottish Law Commission's Cohabitation Discussion Paper in a new video. The commission welcomes responses to the paper.

People claiming to have COVID-19 who deliberately cough at others could be imprisoned for up to 12 months, the Director of Public Prosecutions has warned. The intervention from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) comes after reports in recent days of police, shop workers and vulnerable groups being

It is encouraging that companies are pausing before enforcing some contractual rights in favour of a collaborative, pragmatic approach to issues caused by coronavirus. In advising a range of businesses on their response to the crisis, our experience is that companies are not rushing to strictly enfo

The 2019-20 academic year has been another successful one for the Edinburgh University Mooting Society. Earlier this month it held the finals of both of its internal competitions: the Pinsent Masons Junior Mooting Competition, exclusively for first year students; and the LexisNexis Senior Mooting Co

Bobby Lindsay, lecturer in private Law at Glasgow University, attempted to "spice up" his Zoom tutorial by appearing in front of the poster for 2003 action comedy blockbuster Bad Boys II, starring Martin Lawrence and Will Smith.

Property owners are shifting from short to long term letting as coronavirus hits holiday lets, according to DJ Alexander. The property management company has first-hand evidence of Airbnb owners moving their properties away from holiday letting to long term letting as the tourist market collapses.

Irwin Mitchell has published its latest pay gap report which shows that for the third consecutive year the national law firm has narrowed its gap. Gender pay gap reporting was introduced by the UK government in 2017 and all companies with over 250 employees are required to report on their gende

A round-up of human rights stories from around the world. Hungary: Orban seeks indefinite power in virus bill | EUobserver

An accused who told a Scottish judge she was 'a f.....g old boot' has been given an extra three months' jail to cool his heels. Gary McGuiness, who was in the dock after being apprehended with a machete, made his outburst against Sheriff Frances McCartney after she denied him bail.

A plan has been agreed to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on ongoing transfers of title to land. The Law Society of Scotland and UK Finance have agreed a position whereby lenders are willing to continue to lend against transactions that are due to go complete during the period in which the appl

More flexible interim payment arrangements for legal aid lawyers will be made but require primary legislation, the Scottish government has announced. Legal aid lawyers have been asked to finalise and submit their accounts "as soon as possible" as legal affairs minister Ash Denham said the Scottish L

Registers of Scotland (RoS) is seeking to have emergency legislation passed which would extend the period of protection afforded by advance notices to 10 days after the next full reopening of the application record. The application record was closed by RoS given the risk posed to employees who

A man who pled guilty to a violent assault who claimed he was the victim of a “miscarriage of justice” because he may have been suffering from a “mental disorder” at the time of the offence has had an appeal against his conviction rejected. The appellant alleged “defect

On 25 March, the Scottish government published new guidance on social distancing for businesses during the COVID-19 outbreak, including which businesses are allowed to remain open during the period of so-called “lockdown”. This comes into effect immediately, writes Stephen McGowan. Leisu