Opinion

Blackadders' Hazel Anderson reflects on a furlough period that sounds busier than life at the office. I write this in week 12 of being a furloughed worker. Going from full-time solicitor to full-time stay at home parent to two pre-school children was a little daunting, but frankly a lot less stressf

Dawn Reoch discusses business debt in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic. The Before

Predictive policing is no longer just science fiction, as Benjamin Bestgen explains. See his last jurisprudential primer here. Philip K. Dick’s Minority Report is a short story probably better known through its movie adaptation: three mutants with the ability to foresee crimes before they happ

When a defect becomes apparent in a building or structure, how long does the owner have to make a claim? Kathryn Kelly explains more. In Scotland, defects claims have to be made within five years. Time starts to run when loss, injury and damage occurs (section 11(1) of the Prescription and Limi

Coronavirus has had a significant impact on construction projects in terms of delay as well as direct and indirect costs and Claire Logue says it is uncertain how these will be dealt with by the courts. As the Rolling Stones wisely advise us, "You can't always get what you want… but if you tr

Benjamin Bestgen gives readers an introduction to feminist legal philosophy in his latest primer. See his last one here. It might not surprise readers that the majority of philosophical and legal works (including laws) over the course of human history to date were created by men. The reasons for thi

Amanda Masson explains the details of a recent high-profile family law case. The case of Leigha Collins has attracted much comment. She was ordered by the court in Scotland to return to Malta no later than 5 June with her son, H, who is one year old, on the basis of an application by H's father in t

The UK is a world-leading fintech centre, with London often being labelled the global fintech capital. From a Scottish perspective, over the past couple of years both Edinburgh and Glasgow have been establishing themselves as fintech powerhouses. Allie McGowan looks below at some of the ways that CO

“Always be Closing” – the old mantra, made famous by Alec Baldwin’s speech in Glengarry Glen Ross has resonated in the corporate world in the 20 years since it was made. But Blake (Baldwin’s character in the film) and his sales team didn’t have to contend with a g

Arbitration is a commercial, cost-effective and confidential method of resolving disputes. However, with the COVID-19 lockdown impacting court business and creating a backlog of litigation work, arbitration’s flexibility might now be its most valuable attribute, writes Andrew Mackenzie. A

Advocate Ximena Vengoechea examines the need for juries following a failed attempt to remove them from certain cases earlier this year. It is said that we need juries because accused persons have the right to be judged by their peers. It is the way we have done for centuries, after all. The sys

Having thought about truth, Benjamin Bestgen now considers lies. See his last jurisprudential primer here. In Gulliver’s Travels, Jonathan Swift lets Captain Gulliver explain to the Houyhnhnms, a race of highly intelligent horses dedicated to reason and truth, that lawyers are: intrinsically c

MacRoberts' director of HR Rupa Mooker challenges law firms to walk the walk, not just talk the talk on diverse recruitment. One of the tweets that stood out to me on Twitter over the last few weeks or so during the #blacklivesmatter social media campaign was one which said “Thank you for your

Michael G. J. Upton, advocate, FSA Scot., MCIArb dates the first attested use in our system of certain words, including some denominal verbs liable to excite the grammatical prescriptivist. The extent of what may be known (or at least read) about the present-day world merely by tapping on your keybo

David Lorimer comments on JUSTICE Scotland's views of last year's mock jury research, which cast doubt on its value as a basis for reform of Scotland's three-verdict system. JUSTICE Scotland has now submitted its response to the Scottish government on the recent Mock Jury Research findings. Whilst n