Opinion

The Scottish government will introduce a new register of land ownership in April 2022 but awareness of its purpose, detail and implications among existing owners of land and property appears to be low. As those failing to comply with the new regulations will face criminal sanctions punishable by a f

Ken Swinton, author of the Scottish Law Agents’ Society's response to the Scottish government's consultation on the regulation of the legal profession, notes the importance of an independent judiciary, which requires “that there must be an independent legal profession to ensure appr

On the very day that the European Commission Stakeholder meeting on the Recognition of Parenthood took place, the CJEU determined the ‘baby Sarah’, Stolichna obshtina, rayon ‘Pancharevo’ case. The full judgment is not available yet, but the press release can be found here. Ba

The financial challenges facing the agricultural sector are no secret. But a legal change is opening opportunities which should help landowners and farmers modernise, diversify and create a healthier financial future, writes Susan Law. Clients are coming forward with exciting proposals to take advan

James McMillan, director at law firm Anderson Strathern, warns that Scotland has become an international hotspot for financial crime. In the UK context when you think about white-collar crime over the last couple of decades, names like Barings Bank, the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCC

If nothing else is proved, Giuffre v Prince Andrew, Duke of York will at least have shown the public’s fascination with the private lives of royalty, writes Andrew Stevenson. This is not new. It is 200 years since the death of Queen Caroline. Born in the German principality of Brunswick, Carol

Mathematician and architect of the Tesco Clubcard, Clive Humby, is said to have coined the phrase “Data is the new oil” back in 2006, and this sentiment was echoed in a later Economist report titled: “The world’s most valuable resource is no longer oil, but data”. Launc

The pandemic has forced separating families, and their lawyers, to work very differently over the past 18 months. Compounded by Brexit and general economic uncertainty, the future for family law, and those couples and families affected by it, may be unrecognisable by the end of the next decade, comp

Model al­lows ten­ants to pay a monthly fee to a third party which gives land­lord writ­ten guar­an­tee in­stead of the cash de­posit, says Fin­lay Camp­bell. For years it’s been the case that where a tenant of commercial premises, especially if they are

It was reported this week that Alice Sebold, author of the Lovely Bones amongst other works, had issued a public apology for her part in a miscarriage of justice that led to Anthony Broadwater spending 17 years in prison for a crime that he did not commit. But could this miscarriage of justice have

The outcome of a recent case is significant as a test point in law and will be of particular interest to litigation lawyers in Scotland, writes Andrew Foyle. Earlier this week, the Lord President delivered the judgment of the Court in the appeal from the Sheriff Appeal Court concerning the case

In her recent article in The Scotsman, Queen Noor of Jordan urged the G20 nations to acknowledge that there is a diplomatic emergency. As she and other members of the Scotia Group have argued in recent months, states must commit themselves to more ambitious targets, increase financial and practical

Kirsty Yuill takes a look at proposed new traffic rules. According to a 2021 study by Rooster Insurance, 46.6 per cent of drivers have never refreshed their knowledge of the Highway Code. Those road users will no doubt be surprised to hear that 33 of its rules have been updated and five other change

How on earth can you defend self-regulation in this day and age? How can lawyers possibly be allowed to mark their own homework? In my time as convener of the Law Society’s Regulatory Committee, I’ve often heard these questions asked. They are also the easiest questions to answer. No, I

On Thursday 18 November, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) published its draft guidelines on the interplay between Article 3 (territorial scope) and Chapter V of the GDPR (international data transfers). This is an important development for international data transfers under the GDPR (also re