Legal intelligence to lead, innovate & grow.

Want to get your daily slice of Legal knowledge to your inbox? Sign up now

Legal Matters Scotland helps you stay ahead of the essential legal news shaping your profession. Every weekday, our unique blend of AI, legal experts and researchers monitor 100,000s of articles to share a summary of the most relevant and useful content to help you lead, innovate and grow.

From corporate law to practice management, legal cases, legislation and in-house news. Legal Matters is the only trusted online news source in Scotland dedicated to covering current headlines, articles, reports and interviews to make sure you’re at the forefront of changes in the Scottish legal industry.

LMS banner
Recent Editions
 
rc-recent-lms
Legal Matters
Scotland
Lawyers reiterate concerns over scrapping of not proven

Scotland's criminal justice system will undergo significant changes on January 1, 2026, with the abolition of the not proven verdict. The Law Society of Scotland has expressed concerns about the impact of this reform, which is part of the Victims, Witnesses and Justice Reform (Scotland) Act. Stuart Munro, convener of the Law Society's Criminal Law Committee, said that the new conviction threshold will be "significantly less" than in England and Wales, requiring at least 10 out of 15 jurors for a guilty verdict. The Law Society will monitor the effects of these changes closely. In addition to abolishing the not proven verdict, the Act will establish a Victims and Witnesses Commissioner for Scotland, create a specialist sexual offences court, and grant victims of sexual offences an automatic, lifelong right to anonymity.

Full Issue
 
top-shadow
Read the latest Legal highlights