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A city is to begin fining people for failing to weed the pavement outside their homes. Sandy Evrard, mayor of Belgium's smallest city, Mesen, has sent its citizens a letter telling them they face a €125 fine (£112) if they avoid weeding, collecting litter or picking up dog mess, VRT repor

A below inflationary rise in the cost of practising as a Scottish solicitor, has been agreed by solicitors at a special general meeting. Members voted in the majority to adopt the proposed rise of £10 in the 2019/20 practising certificate (PC) subscription to £575, put forward by the Law

A couple whose marriage was annulled by the Greek courts because the husband had previously been married to the wife's sister suffered a violation of their article 12 rights, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled. Applicants Georgios Theodorou and Sophia Tsotsorou married in 2005, fou

A draft guideline on sentencing has been hailed by the Faculty of Advocates as “concise and easy to understand” and a benefit to the public. The sentencing process has been prepared by the Scottish Sentencing Council and aims to set out the various steps taken by judges in making a sente

Scottish courts are dealing with increasing levels of serious crime while appeals have declined by 18 per cent since 2014/15, new figures show. The first-quarter figures for 2019-20 reveal a six per cent increase in business at the High Court and a four per cent rise in Sheriff Court solemn and

Lindsay Darroch, one of Scotland’s most respected property lawyers, has joined Aberdein Considine to lead its expansion across the Tayside region. Mr Darroch has taken up a new role as partner with the firm, with responsibility for the firm’s existing Tayside office and its expansion int

Shoosmiths has confirmed the opening of a Glasgow hub, building on the success of its Edinburgh office. Barry McKeown, who recently joined Shoosmiths real estate team as a partner, is responsible for further developing the firm’s presence in the west of Scotland.

The corporate team at Harper Macleod has advised on the sale of wind turbine installation business Windhoist Group to European fund manager STAR Capital for an undisclosed consideration. Windhoist, an owner-managed business which is headquartered in Scotland but has subsidiaries in Morocco, Ireland,

In Aberdeen this week more than 36,000 global oil and gas professionals have gathered to debate, lecture, promote and celebrate the achievements of the energy industry at the biennial SPE Offshore Europe conference and exhibition. Offshore Europe is being hosted for the first time in the city’

Google has agreed to pay a record $170 million file and to make changes to protect children's privacy on YouTube after regulators said the site illegally collected personal information from children in order to target them with adverts, the New York Times reports. Critics, however, have said the fin

A client was so pleased with the service she received from a paralegal at law firm McDougall McQueen that she named her lambs after the employee.

A round-up of human rights stories from around the world. Nicaraguan Human Rights Attorney Declared Guilty by Kangaroo Court | Havana Times

A man who allegedly drove away from a courthouse was arrested – as he had only five minutes earlier been convicted of drink driving and ordered not to drive for a year. Provincial police in Ontario, Canada, said they arrested the man after he was convicted in the courthouse in Orangeville, CP2

A man who was required to pay a total of £6,000 in compensation after shouting sectarian abuse at two police officers during a drunken struggle and spitting at a paramedic has had an appeal against what he claimed was an “excessive” amount rejected. John McLellan, who was given a c

Over the past three months, the average selling price of properties in Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and the Borders was £259,833 – a five per cent increase compared to the previous year. In Edinburgh, the average selling price was £283,398, a 6.4 per cent increase compared to last