No change, doesn’t mean no effect
The beginning of the new tax year on 6 April is often accompanied by changes to allowances and tax thresholds. But like so much of…
Vaccines and Children
It was recently announced that over half the Scottish population have received their first dose of a Covid 19 vaccine. This is an…
Caterpillar Meme Wars – Colin v Cuthbert demonstrates the additional considerations required in modern litigation
Unless you have been living under a rock for the past couple of weeks, you will be aware that there is an ongoing litigation involving…
Register of Controlled Interests in Land: How will it work?
Since becoming law, the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 has introduced a number of changes affecting the rural sector in Scotland and the…
All bark AND bite?
In the last year many households found that thanks to a global pandemic, home working became more prevalent. As a by-product, it was the…
Tiger Woods – Driving the Fair Way
The LA County Sheriff’s office report into Tiger Woods’ latest driving incident alleges that he was driving at around 87MPH on a 45MPH road…
Cyber-attacks. What can you do to protect your organisation's personal data?
Almost daily we are seeing cyber-attacks in the news. From nurseries to universities, to SMEs and, to corporate giants like Microsoft…
Retirement and Dental Bodies Corporate
We have looked in previous articles at the issues which practices need to consider when they operate as a limited company, known in the…
Sleeping on the Job?
Being paid to sleep may sound like the dream for some (pun intended); however, the reality is that for some vocations sleep-in shifts are…
Are Virtual Operating Models Here to Stay?
Like many other people, I’m just coming to the end of a full year working exclusively, or at least mainly, from home. One of the most…
Agricultural Tenants Right of Relinquishment and Assignation
On 28 February 2021, the rules about the relinquishment and assignation of tenancies in Scotland came into effect. Section 110 of the…
New Opt-out Scheme of Organ Donation comes into force today
The law around organ and tissue donation in Scotland changes on 26 March 2021 to an opt-out system, which is hoped will lead to an increase…
The Reality of Surrogacy in Scotland
Surrogacy in the UK is steadily becoming more and more common. In 2011 only 121 parental orders were made compared with 368 in 2018. The…
Working From Home or Living at Work?
Prior to March 2020 the number of people working from home was few and far between. Since March 2020 and Lockdown 1.0, this number has…
Do you really know who will benefit from your Estate?
As we’ve all been reminded of in the news this week – sometimes families fall out. Whilst most people don’t then go on and have an…
Thirteen trainees start their legal career with Thorntons from home
Full service Scottish law firm Thorntons has swelled its ranks with thirteen new trainee solicitors.
Three of the new recruits started…
Vaccine Data Privacy Concerns in the Workplace
With over a million people in Scotland having received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccination, the rollout is most certainly underway…
#FreeBritney and what happens when 'I Care a Lot' is not true
Lockdown 2 (or is it now 3?) has certainly increased our viewing of content on streaming platforms and often a theme can develop in…
Passage of time no obstacle to justice for survivors of historic abuse
Recent court rulings and inquiries have shown that survivors of abuse can seek justice and have their voices heard, even decades after…
Dental Practice Structure – To Be a Company (or not to be)?
This is a subject which we come back to fairly regularly as dental lawyers. Practices decide that they wish to incorporate, in other words…
Employers - Take Responsibility for Keeping Employees Safe
I was saddened to read of the death of Scott Hunter recently as a result of COVID but was disappointed to read about the failures of his…