Opinion

Burness Paull's Chris Gotts, lead legal adviser on the Calnex IPO, discusses why more growing businesses in Scotland should follow suit.  Traditionally businesses in Scotland have sought to grow organically and through acquisition with private and/or debt funding, with their exit coming vi

Blair Nimmo, head of restructuring at KPMG in Scotland, discusses landlord-occupier tensions during the coronavirus pandemic. Tensions between commercial landlords and their financially stressed tenants continue to grow, and how landlords respond will be critical to the recovery not only o

Construction companies, engineering firms and other businesses active in the infrastructure sector stand to lose out on funding, investment and major government contracts around the world unless they take a more active role in the fight against climate change. A growing imperative for infrastructure

Gillian Maclellan discusses the use of tracking technology to monitor employees working from home. As employers across the UK now look at another sustained period of their workforce working from home, we are hearing tales of some using tracking technology to keep tabs on their employees.

Corporate lawyer Michael Cox examines the latest EU update of consumer protection rules. The New Deal for Consumers (NDC) is a refresh of European consumer protection rules, to bring existing laws up-to-date for the digital age.

Advocate Niall McCluskey considers the plight of students in lockdown in university accommodation. Prior to the start of the academic year concern was raised in the media about the movement of large numbers of students attending universities. The coronavirus regulations include the power to impose r

Victoria Leslie and Laila Kennedy discuss how business interruption claims are a vital step forward for firms who paid for enhanced business interruption insurance, but had their claims rejected. The Association of British Insurers has said that its members expect to pay £900 million in b

Peter Shand explores the latest trend of the super-wealthy setting up finance and legal offices to deal with their affairs. Scotland’s financial ecosystem is changing and one of the latest drivers could be the increase in the number of official ‘family offices’ being set up.

Alistair Robertson encourages fellow patent attorneys to "stay ahead of the curve" on emerging technology. Artificial Intelligence is all around us, from recommending what you should purchase next online, to understanding frustrated commands yelled at virtual assistants. It now affects our daily liv

Laura McKenna discusses a case in which the claimant suffered from paranoid delusions, but was not considered to be disabled. Suffering from a serious mental health condition is no guarantee of disability status.

Sarah Lilley discusses the impact of COVID-19 on courts in Scotland, particularly those in more rural areas. The impact of COVID-19 has resulted in us adapting many practices in our daily lives, both personally and professionally. The Scottish courts are no exception. As a busy family lawyer pr

Dr Ronan Cormacain of the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law considers a lesser-discussed aspect of the controversial Internal Market Bill. Huge controversy has already been generated over provisions in the United Kingdom Internal Market Bill granting Ministers the power to disapply the Withdrawal A

Joanna Cherry QC MP writes about the possibility of the UK government decriminalising torture and the impact this would have on soldiers. Does Boris Johnson care so little for the law that he would allow the decriminalisation of torture?

Benjamin Bestgen takes a further look at free speech this week, see last week's jurisprudential primer for part one. Open a newspaper or look through social media and you will find people expressing their upset about all kinds of real or perceived wrongs.

Elaine Motion, chairman of Balfour and Manson, pays tribute to Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until her death last week at the age of 87. I was immensely saddened to hear the news of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s passing at t