The Family Conference at Scots Law 2026

Murrayfield Stadium is the venue for the next event in our Scots Law Conference Series, exclusively available to delegates in person on the day.

Chaired by Lindsey Ogilvie of Turcan Connell, our new Family Conference will will include presentations on AI, surrogacy, protecting clients’ privacy, child abduction, mediation, practical litigation pointers and the latest important decided cases, Lindsey will be joined by Professor Gillian Black from the Scottish Law Commission, Jennifer Wilkie of Burness Paull, Robert Gilmour from SKO, Ciara Wilson & Charlotte Dempster of Turcan Connell and Florence Gibson and Molly Little of Westwater Advocates.

What's being covered?

Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots – is the use of AI in family cases a battle we can’t win?

Or is it one we even need to win? In this session we will consider how the standards of conduct for solicitors and our duties can be complicated by the inexorable rise in clients using AI. Using case studies, we will explore:- 

• how do we separate the real from the potentially artificial?
• what are the potential pitfalls of acting on instructions generated by AI (and how can we tell)?
• what are the opportunities of using AI in family law?

Jennifer Wilkie, Burness Paull

Anonymisation, pseudonymisation, jigsaw identification, and privacy rights: how should the courts protect the privacy of family litigants?

Family law cases can involve the most personal and intimate details of the parties' lives, including children. Transparency requires that the decisions of the courts are published where possible, but Art 8 demands that the privacy rights of litigants (and other family members) are respected. This paper will look at the relevant factors in protecting privacy, and highlight the role of parties' solicitors in ensuring this is done properly.

Professor Gillian Black, the Scottish Law Commission

Family creation, including surrogacy and parentage

This session will focus on the options available to couples and individuals who have struggled to conceive naturally, the legal consequences of the various options, including who is the legal parent, and the remedies/steps they can take to mitigate uncertainty/those consequences.

Lindsey Ogilvie, Turcan Connell

Family law case update

This session will look at a selection of recent decisions in family cases and any particular considerations for family law practitioners arising from them.

Florence Gibson, Westwater Advocates

Flexibility in family mediation

What is the scope for, and what are the practical challenges of, employing creative approaches to mediation? This session will explore issues such as the regulatory context, online mediation, shuttle mediation, represented mediation and the interface with other non court dispute resolution options such as arbitration.

Robert Gilmour, SKO

Child abduction: development of Scottish case law

This presentation will consider recent developments in Scottish case law in relation to the 1980 Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. The circumstances that have justified the refusal of return orders will be discussed, alongside the increasing prominence given to children’s views when establishing whether defences to return are established. The Supreme Court decision In the Petition of DM (No 1) and (No 2) concerning the relevance of a child’s views when establishing a grave risk of harm will also be discussed.

Molly Little, Westwater Advocates

From Sheriff Court to Court of Session: key lessons for family practitioners

This session will provide a practical comparison of family litigation in the sheriff court and the Court of Session. We will examine how family actions are conducted in practice in the Court of Session compared with the sheriff court, exploring procedural differences, strategic considerations, and practical lessons from experience.

Ciara Wilson & Charlotte Dempster, Turcan Connell