Opinion

Dave Penman, general secretary of the FDA trade union, which represents Scottish government civil servants and prosecutors, responds to Alistair Bonnington on the Salmond inquiry. Many of you will have views on the evidence and issues that have been dealt with by the Committee on the Scottish Govern

Benjamin Bestgen examines the impact of "respectability" in criminal trials. See last week's jurisprudential primer here. Tropes like the “Gentleman Thief” pick up on the allure of the white-collar criminal: a person who appears respectable, educated, even charming. A worldly, cleve

There never has been a clearer case made out for the utility of law and lawyers than the so-called Salmond Inquiry in the Scottish Parliament. The "Committee on the Scottish government handling of harassment complaints" to give it its correct title, has thus far failed to unearth the truth about the

Jodi Gordon, partner at Road Traffic Accident Law (Scotland) LLP, comments on the development of remote hearings during the Covid-19 pandemic. ‘Working from home’ has become the norm for so many of us over the last 10 months. There have been challenges along the way requiring both employ

Whether UK employers require staff to be vaccinated is a question that has been doing the rounds since the Pfizer vaccine became available. My experience is that clients start the discussion thinking that they might want to mandate, or very actively encourage employees to be vaccinated, but having h

D C Watson & Sons (Fenton Barns) Ltd, owner of storage premises known as the Turkeytorium, in East Lothian, have achieved dismissal of an action for damages at debate, following a fire at the premises. Clyde & Co's Gordon Keyden explains the details of the case. The pursuer, Philip Samson, l

Benjamin Bestgen considers the fairness of the high standards to which we hold lawyers. Read last week's jurisprudential primer here. The legal profession is a deeply human one and humans are complex creatures. As a species we are capable of extraordinary feats of courage, intellect, wisdom, kindnes

Andrew Stevenson reflects on a literary-cum-legal encounter between two of Scotland's greatest writers.  Two hundred years ago two of Scotland’s most eminent men of literature met in court. One of them, James Hogg, the self-styled Ettrick Shepherd, is best known for his novel The Private

A new judgment provides further analysis of employers' duties post-Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 and reiterates the importance of pleadings, writes Eoin Quinn, of Keoghs, who acted for the defender in the case. The judgment provides a useful analysis of the relationship be

Last week’s hearing in the Court of Session in For Women Scotland’s judicial review of the Scottish government’s Gender Representation on Public Boards Act 2018 put the spotlight on whether trans women should be able to benefit from measures intended to address the under-representa

Disruption can bring opportunities, and those businesses which have a mindset of accepting opportunities thrown up from the unwelcome disruption caused by Covid-19 will survive and thrive, while new businesses will emerge to capitalise on these opportunities. Initially, the pandemic led to a tempora

There are advantages to having a bit of age on you when you’re a family lawyer – quite apart from the fact that you are less likely to be trying to home school your own children. If you are 40 plus you will remember family law pre-Brussels II, which is going to be useful in this post-Bre

According to a recent survey, post-Brexit Britain is considered a prime real estate proposition by investors, developers and asset managers from across Europe, China and the US. Notably, it ranked the UK highest for future residential property investment. The UK property sector reportedly attracts i

Martin Devine looks at the state of the commercial property sector during the pandemic. It has been a tumultuous year for the commercial property sector with Covid-19 disrupting investors’ plans and, at least in the short term, bringing transactional activity to a shuddering halt.

Some of the more controversial aspects of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 are to be brought into force by February 28, writes Hamish Lean. These are the long-awaited rules applying to a secure agricultural tenant’s right to relinquish their interest in the tenancy in return for compensatio