Society announces St. James's Place as a strategic partner
Wealth manager St. James's Place has joined the Law Society of Scotland’s strategic partnership programme to provide wealth management and financial planning expertise and support for Scottish solicitors and their clients. As strategic partners St. James’s Place will provide resources for Scottish solicitors through articles, CPD training and practice area updates focusing on the latest developments in wills and estate management, trusts, charity work and tax matters as well as considering the relationship between financial planning and wellbeing. “Throughout a very competitive tender process, St. James’s Place impressed us with their deep understanding of the legal sector and their extensive network of financial advisers across Scotland", said Paul Mosson, Executive Director of Member Services and Engagement at the Law Society of Scotland. "We’re looking forward to working closely with them as our strategic partners to support our members in all aspects of financial planning with clients, as well as offering expert advice to solicitors as individuals and businesses themselves".
The Journal of the Law Society of Scotland  

Gillespie Macandrew books full-year profit rise
Gillespie Macandrew has increased its annual profits despite a fall in turnover resulting from the pandemic. Revenue for the year ending February 28th 2021 amounted to £13.5m, down from £14.4m a year earlier. However, “mitigating actions” taken during the initial period of lockdown, coupled with the stronger trading environment experienced in the latter part of the year, resulted in profits of £3.9m before members’ remuneration, up from £3.5m. The firm said business had been adversely affected in the initial few months of lockdown, particularly in relation to property and court-related work, where external factors meant that these markets failed to function normally. However, overall business levels for the second half of the financial year returned to pre-pandemic levels.
The Scotsman  

Thorntons appoints five new solicitors, including two legal directors
Thorntons has appointed five new solicitors across a number of its teams. Two legal directors join Thorntons' Dundee office: Karen Cornwell, who joins from Kennedys, in Dispute Resolution & Claims, and Ruth Pyatt, who has moved to Scotland from East Anglia, in Wills, Trusts & Succession Planning. Recently qualified corporate solicitor Aadil Anwar will also be based in Dundee office, while corporate solicitor Sabihah Ahmed, and Andrew Wallace, an associate in the Employment team who joins from Balfour+Manson, will work primarily from Thorntons’ Edinburgh base.
The Journal of the Law Society of Scotland  

Yuill+Kyle names new managing director
Specialist debt recovery firm Yuill+Kyle, part of the MacRoberts Group, has appointed Denise Loney as its new managing director. Formerly director at Alston Law, which joined the Simpson & Marwick stable earlier this year, Ms Loney succeeds Stephen Cowan in her new role, which will further Yuill+Kyle’s strategic plans to expand and develop its debt recovery practice across Scotland. Mr Cowan will remain as a consultant to help with the transition.
The Journal of the Law Society of Scotland  

Glasgow City Council taken to court over housing plan
A community has commenced court proceedings against Glasgow City Council over approving plans for Green Belt housing in the city's last remaining village. Carmunnock Community Council says it has been forced to make the challenge in the Court of Session in a move they believe has implications for conservation areas across Scotland. It has set up a fighting fund of around £7,000 initially in its court fight over the decision by the three-member city council planning review committee it describes as "outrageous" as Glasgow prepares to host the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference. The complaint surrounds plans by East Kilbride-based Zoom Developments to build four new five-bedroom homes on green belt land in Carmunnock, despite proposals for the site being previously rejected by the council. The homes are to be built on "iconic" green space called locally as The Horse Field in Busby Road, which was used for equestrian grazing.
The Herald  

Court orders £1.3m payment for man abused by foster carer
The Court of Session has ordered Glasgow City Council to pay out £1,339,185 to an unnamed man who was the "victim of serious sexual abuse" as a child at the hands of a foster carer between 1983 and 1988. Judge Lord Brailsford said he was "satisfied on the balance of probabilities" that difficulties encountered by the man, including PTSD and anxiety, "have been proved to be causally linked to the childhood sexual abuse", and that the council is "vicariously liable for the consequences of that conduct". A spokesperson for the council has said it will "take the appropriate time to consider the verdict in full".
STV   BBC News   Evening Express  

NatureScot's beaver-killing licences ruled unlawful
Scotland's agency for wildlife and habitats allowed beavers to be killed unlawfully, a judge has ruled. NatureScot has been ordered to stop issuing licences to cull the animals, and previously authorised culls have been deemed unlawful. The rewilding charity Trees for Life challenged the beaver-killing policy at the Court of Session, saying too many licences were being issued. NatureScot said the decision, "for the most part", vindicated their approach. The ruling applies to all European protected species in the UK.
BBC News  

Labour leader attacks First Minister's handling of pandemic
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has criticised First Minister Nicola Sturgeon's handling of the coronavirus pandemic - and her record in Government. On the pandemic, he told the Scottish Parliamentary Journalists Association that Ms Sturgeon's record "has not been better" than that of Prime Minister Boris Johnson. "You know, she may have communicated differently", he said, "but actually when you look at it, whether it's on the number of deaths, proportion of deaths, inequalities that have been exposed by it, or Trace and Protect, again, has been a failure in much the same way as Track and Trace has been here [south of the border]." More broadly, he said, the issue of the constitution was "consistently being used by the SNP to mask their record", describing the Scottish Government's record on issues like education, drug-related deaths and health as "appalling".
Herald Scotland   The Scotsman  

Scottish Gov. consults on ending food bank reliance
The Scottish Government has launched a new consultation on how to end the need for food banks as a primary response to food insecurity. A draft national plan, supported by food bank operators including the Trussell Trust and Independent Food Aid Network, follows action during the pandemic to prevent food insecurity through strengthening household incomes and the delivery of cash-first responses to financial hardship. Proposals include: investment in cash-first local partnerships; piloting the use of shopping vouchers, and working with the Trussell Trust and Independent Food Aid Network to end the need for their services, and others to provide practical assistance in developing transition and exit strategies, including by learning from the Trussell Trust’s Pathfinder Programme. Responses to the consultation are invited ahead of a January 25th deadline.
The Journal of the Law Society of Scotland  

 

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Panic alarms offered to East Lothian councillors
Members of East Lothian Council are being offered panic alarms following the murder of MP Sir David Amess. Security surrounding elected councillors is under review across the country with police offering one on one briefings to local members concerned about their safety. “It is imperative that elected representatives are able to engage with their constituents in as safe and accessible a way as possible", a council spokesperson said. "We recognise there is concern around the country about this matter. While many meetings and engagements continue to be carried out remotely at this time, we will be re-issuing guidance to elected members on personal safety while on-line briefings from Police Scotland will also be offered".
Edinburgh Evening News