Russel + Aitken - Denny

We are trying to locate Sharon and Heather the daughters of the late Mr William Paisley who died on 12 February 2018. Their mother is Mrs Margaret Paisley nee Wightman who is believed to reside in either Camelon of Carronshore. We'd be most grateful if anyone with information as to their whereabouts could please contact us. This is a matter which is in the interests of the persons concerned.

Fake Law Firm - Legal Award Winners!
This gave us a chuckle.
Two English publishers have been duped into awarding accolades to a fake law firm in a hoax intended to highlight the glut of legal awards given out in the UK.
... FLF Abiola & Co, which used a photo of actor Danny Glover as its managing partner, was awarded the accolades by Finance Monthly and Corporate INTL in recognition of its "work" on Nollywood films including Yes I Don’t, Tempting Fate and Hunting 4 Hubbies.
However, managing partner "Dennis Abiola" did not actually exist, with “FLF” being a clue to the fact it was a fake law firm.
The fake firm was created last year by Jamie Hamilton, a writer for the Roll on Friday website and included a logo based on male genitalia.
His colleagues nominated him for an award in a category he himself devised: “film financing law firm of the year in Nigeria”.
Mr Hamilton claimed he had structured finances for the films.
Finance Monthly’s award manager said the awards process meant “examining and verifying all documentation and supporting text provided”.
After bestowing the awards, both Finance Monthly and Corporate INTL attempted to sell FLF Abiola & Co advertising space in their magazines.
Mr Hamilton said: “Lawyers don’t have to pay to win an award, but they are strongly encouraged to buy space in the award winners’ magazines. Some lawyers go along with it to burnish their ego. Others want to look successful to clients. The problem is that anyone seeing the award might think it reflected genuine excellence, when my experience suggests that may not be the case.”
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"What a relief to finally sort out our life insurance. Let’s celebrate with some toast..."
It's never too early to make a will or seek advice on criminal law.

TO PAY OR NOT TO PAY?
One of the questions we are often asked is whether parking tickets have to be paid. There is no easy answer to this. Generally speaking it depends on whose land you are parking. There are three types:
1. Parking on public land. Parking tickets can be is issued by a Local Authority parking attendant, a traffic warden or a police office in relation to parking in local authority car parks or on public roads which have been adopted by the Local Authority....
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New Year New Will
It's perhaps not a very happy note to start the year on, but it is constantly being brought home to us how many people don't make a will, causing additional upset, not to mention expense, to their nearest and dearest.
There's no crystal ball in life. Imagine the impact on your family if they have to deal with your financial affairs while grieving for your loss. And all because you didn't spend a few hours putting your wishes down in writing. The fact is, mos...t people know how important it is to have a will in place, they just keep putting off making one.
Of course you can buy cheap wills online. In our experience they are seldom less expensive than having a solicitor prepare one and are often one-size-fits-all affairs, using out of date law, or prone to ambiguous terminology that leads to problems later. Some are even drafted under English rather than Scots Law - of course, unlike with a solicitor, there is usually no comeback for such errors.
Responsible people, looking for peace of mind, want to know that every angle is covered and has been considered by a legal professional who knows how to ensure their wishes will be followed.
If you haven't made a will previously or it was a while ago, and your circumstances have changed, contact us now. Don't put off writing a will any longer because none of us knows what the future holds.
Fee quotes are available.
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Have a merry Christmas when it comes, everyone. And remember you are presumed nice unless/until proven beyond a reasonable doubt that you are naughty.

AND JUSTICE FOR SOME Domestic abuse is abhorrent and although we don’t agree with zero-tolerance policies in principle, it is easy to understand why the police and courts should not (as has happened in years gone by) shrug and take the view that it’s ‘just a domestic’. The pendulum has now swung too far the other way. It has been clear for many years now that cases where the alleged victim is not in a special category, such as a spouse/partner, cases are being largely ignore...d.
Whereas a client of ours found himself in the Sheriff Court for calling his wife an a***hole, another client who carried out a string of disturbances at a particular nightclub in Falkirk, has thus far received no less than twelve fixed penalty or warning letters and has not been near a court. Another who carried out two assaults on strangers in Falkirk, was caught on CCTV, and who made a full confession was delighted to receive a Fiscal fine. There are hundreds of such examples.
Never before has this office had so many people coming to report crimes to us – which is unusual since we are in the business of defending accused persons – not prosecuting them; that’s the job of the Procurator Fiscal Service! We have even had an ex-cop complain that the police would not deal with his complaint.
Clamping down on domestic, as well as racist and homophobic etc. offences is fine, but what about everyone else? What about people who do not meet a Scottish Government defined ‘special category’.
Earlier this year, a client of ours, a woman with an unblemished record, was the victim of an unprovoked assault by a stranger. She was followed in the street, punched in the face and her front teeth knocked out. Since June we have been writing to the Crown Office asking why the matter was referred to the Justice of the Peace Court to be dealt with by a non-legally qualified magistrate. Had her assailant been her husband he would have been in the Sheriff Court even if he hadn’t struck her but only verbally abused her. When did name calling become more serious than assault to injury? No answer has been the loud reply from the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service to date. Whether or not it’s your partner who’s punching you in the face or a stranger, it’s still sore. The idea that a stranger might attack you while walking in the street is just as worrying as if someone you live with might do it.
We will always stick up for those falsely or wrongly accused, but although it saves money not to prosecute cases, the idea that the only victims who require protection are those in a relationship with their attacker is absurd and unjust.
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To celebrate the release of our Mr McIntyre's latest legal thriller 'Last Will' on 16th November (available in all good bookshops, and a few not so good ones) like our page to be entered into a free draw for a signed first edition!

Before moving to our purpose built offices at 22/24 Stirling Street in 1991, the previous building had to be demolished due to structural problems. Here is a Deed from our strongroom dating from 1923 showing that the building was once the business premises of J&W Roberts, coal merchants. By this deed the then proprietor, William Roberts, passed the running of the business over to his wife, Elizabeth. Stamp duty for the transaction was the princely sum of sixpence, complete with actual stamps. Those were the days.

In the run up to Remembrance Day, here are some photos we have in the office of local men who fought in the Great War with the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders. Unfortunately, we have no names, (not even of the wee boy climbing the fence) though more information is available below and online.
1st/7th Battalion (Territorial Force) Mobilised at Stirling on the outbreak of war. To Bedford August 1914. To France December 1914. Temporarily amalgamated with the 1st/9th Battalion fr...om May to July 1915. To 154th Brigade, 51st Highland Division March 1916. Ended the war North of Cambrai. Battle Honours: St Julien, Frezenberg, Bellewarde, Ypres 1915, Somme 1916, Bazentin, Pozieres, Ancre 1916, Scarpe 1917, Arras 1917, Ypres 1917, Pilckem, Menin Road, Cambrai 1917, Somme 1918, St Quentin, Bapaume 1918, Aras 1918, Lys, Estaires Hazebrouck, Bethune, Marne 1918, Soissonnais-ourcq, Tardenois, Scarpe 1918, Selle, France and Flanders 1914-1918
2nd/7th Battalion (Territorial Force) Formed in Stirling September 1914. To Falkirk by August 1915. To Forfarshire Autumn 1915. Titled No.11 Battalion from November 1915 to January 1916. To Norwich March 1916. To Taverham April 1917. Disbanded Autumn 1917.
3rd/7th Battalion (Territorial Force) Formed at Stirling April 1915. To Ripon Autumn 1915. Retitled as 7th (Reserve) Battalion April 1916. Absorbed by 5th (Reserve) Battalion September 1916.
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25 heavy boxes to be carted down four flights of stairs. Men's work, apparently. Give us a a call If you've been a victim of sex discrimination and would like legal advice. Our Mr McIntyre and Mr Grant would be pleased to help.

Julian Visits Denny
In 1916, the Government began to issue War Bonds as a way of raising money. Charged with raising money for the war, the Scottish War Savings Committee initiated a ‘Tank Bank’ campaign which, though carried out at home, became one of the most successful tank operations of the entire war. Tank No. 113, referred to as ‘Julian’, visited towns and cities in Scotland, arriving to be greeted by Civic Dignitaries and Local Celebrities, and speeches were usually be... made atop it. The tank was be accompanied by soldiers and artillery guns, sometimes an aeroplane would drop pamphlets over the Town or City prior to the Tank's appearance exhorting the people to invest, and it usually put on a show for the crowds in order to demonstrate its capabilities. The visited town or city had a fund raising target it tried to meet, the amount raised by each location was reported in the National Press thus ensuring a strong competitive element, especially between the larger cities.
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I'll Give You Something to Cry About!
Remember University law exams? How we were given a scenario and asked, 'what is the law?' Remember how the imaginary clients all had names like Barry Soap, Roland Butter and Iona Laurie? Here’s an exam question that might be set in a few months’ time.
We asked a law student, Alec Smart, to tackle it.
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Road Traffic Law advice. Free 15 minute interview every Thursday afternoon - call 01324 822194 for an appointment. Over 96% of our Road Traffic clients retain their licence.

It's National Libraries Week this week and our Mr McIntyre will be giving a talk on his books, The Best Defence Series, at Denny Library tomorrow 10 October at 6.30pm