Opinion

The first casualty of the gender recognition regime is freedom of speech, writes barrister Naomi Cunningham. Section 29(2)(d) of the Scotland Act 1998 provides that an Act of the Scottish Parliament is not law so far is it is incompatible with any of the Convention rights. The UK government may not

Marc Penman comments on two cases that could have serious implications for sport worldwide. Ordinarily, when we discuss competition in the sporting world we are usually focused on individuals and/or teams going toe to toe and battling it out for glory and bragging rights over one another. Recently h

In Spire Property Development LLP & Anor v Withers LLP [2022] EWCA Civ 970, the Court of Appeal (E&W) considered the scope of a solicitor's duty when posed questions by clients where the original retainer had ended, writes Edward Grundy. The developers bought two neighbouring properties

Paul Motion considers a recent advocate general's opinion from the Court of Justice of the European Union. Is a person who makes a subject access request entitled to copies of all documents such as emails?

Property expert Phil Harris, a director at Shepherd and Wedderburn's private wealth & tax team, discusses the state of the Scottish housing market in 2022 and what to expect in 2023, as vol­umes appear to return to pre-pan­demic lev­els. The 2022 Scottish housing market and

Andrew Stevenson relates a tale of paperclips and confusion. My first fumbling attempt to raise an action in the Court of Session taught me a little about the law but a great deal more about the importance of paperclips and heraldry. The contents of the document posed no problem at all, despite the

Roland Smyth discusses the challenges facing the tourism industry in Scotland as a result of Covid and Brexit and suggests ways to address these issues including investment in staff training, public sector support, and a focus on ESG issues to make the industry more attractive to a wider talent pool

Alan Shanks, head of Scotland at Addleshaw Goddard, reflects on 2022 and looks at what lies ahead in 2023 for the firm and for the wider Scottish landscape. Like many businesses, we approach 2023 with a degree of caution given the macro-economic and geopolitical challenges that will continue to impa

Although the pandemic feels like a lifetime ago, the context of unpredictability in connection to the lockdown, unemployment, several restrictions and the changes in today’s standard of living have impacted mental health severely. In a research conducted by Mind, around one in three adults and

Dr Alessandra Asteriti gives her opinion on a UN expert's advice to a Holyrood committee on the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. On 13 December 2022, Victor Madrigal-Borloz, the UN Independent Expert on Protection Against Violence and Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation an

Dr Paul Behrens, a member of the Ending Conversion Practices Expert Advisory Group, responds to criticism of its recent report. Reports by experts tend to be read by experts only, then shelved forever. You can certainly not say the same about the report by the Scottish Expert Advisory Group on Endin

Energy companies are having to keep on top of often complex employment rules and regulations if their offshore rig crews feature personnel from overseas. It’s a particular issue if they were used to hiring European nationals pre-Brexit and are therefore unfamiliar with the sponsorship routes,

In a world increasingly obsessed with celebrities, influencers and social media, professional footballers playing in the FIFA World Cup in Qatar have never been in a brighter spotlight, writes Ally Burr. The FIFA World Cup is one of the most watched sporting events in the world. From sticker books,

Pauline Hughes outlines the implications of changes to flexible working laws. The Scottish government has recently announced that they will soon be passing new legislation around flexible working, updating the current rules to, ironically, make the scheme more flexible for employees.

Products containing the mineral talc are set to be removed from UK shelves amid fears they may contain asbestos material following a rise in litigation in the United States, write David Short and Peter Littlefair. Putting profits over product safety has been the battleground for product liability ca