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The UK and the US have signed a bilateral agreement allowing their respective law enforcement agencies to directly demand electronic data relating to serious crime from tech companies in the other jurisdiction. The world-first UK-US Bilateral Data Access Agreement was signed by Home Secretary Priti

Proposed legislation should avoid forcing parties to attend mediation information sessions, writes Malcolm Gunnyeon. As litigants increasingly look for quicker and more cost-effective alternatives to the courts, mediation has become well known as a means of resolving disputes.

The widow of a barrister who died on safari with his daughter will have her case heard in an English court despite the law of Egypt being applicable. Lady Brownlie is to sue the Egyptian branch of the Four Seasons hotel chain over the death of Sir Ian Brownlie QC, The Times reports.

The Aberdeen Law Project has announced the launch of its new talk-show on Station House Media Unit's (SHMU) radio station. SHMU, a charity which uses media to spread a positive message about Aberdeen’s regeneration areas, will host the first episode of the talk show on 29 October.

The Supreme Court is offering school pupils the opportunity to have a live question and answer session with a justice from their own classroom. Applications for the Ask a Justice programme will close on the 15th November 2019 and the successful candidates will be contacted in December.

Law Society of Scotland president, John Mulholland and chief executive, Lorna Jack, welcomed Scotland's newest solicitors to the profession while Sheriff Principal Marysia Lewis was the guest speaker at the ceremony.

A Thai judge is recovering after shooting himself in an apparent suicide bid at the end of court proceedings in which he sharply criticised alleged interference with the judiciary. Judge Khanakorn Pianchana, 49, a senior judge at Yala Provincial Court in the south of Thailand, pulled out a pistol an

A young man who says he overslept and missed jury duty was sent to jail for 10 days by a furious judge. Deandre Somerville, 21, was summoned to his own court hearing after failing to show up for the civil trial where he was supposed to be a juror.

A commercial property landlord has been granted a court order requiring a tenant to leave the premises after a judge ruled that the notice to terminate the lease, which gave a period of just under six months, was valid under common law. A judge in the Court of Session upheld the landlord’s cla

A number of former judges have condemned the suggestion endorsed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson that judicial candidates be vetted by Parliament in a US-style process. The suggestion in the House of Commons last week by the Attorney General Geoffrey Cox QC that “there may very well need to be

The Scottish Parliament's Local Government and Communities Committee has given its backing to a bill which proposes the first major reform of business rates in Scotland for decades. The committee says a clear majority of organisations from local government, to business and the third sector support t

A majority of Scots want to see tighter controls on the use and sale of fireworks, a poll has found. A YouGov survey commissioned by the Scottish government and involving a representative sample of the Scottish population showed 71 per cent of adults supported tighter controls on the sale of firewor

More than 10,000 people living in Great Britain and Northern Ireland have applied for an Irish passport every month this year so far, new figures show. A total of 85,517 passport applications were received in the year to 31 August 2019, including 36,274 from Great Britain and 49,243 from Northern Ir

Holyrood’s Justice Sub-Committee on Policing has launched a new inquiry into the use of facial recognition technology. MSPs are keen to find out more about police use and future plans in relation to this fast-evolving tool, which is becoming increasingly prevalent.

New legislation banning the smacking of children needs to be supported by a comprehensive public education and awareness campaign, according to the Law Society of Scotland.  The Children (Equal Protection from Assault) (Scotland) Bill passed by the Scottish Parliament yesterday abolishes t