Shock of the new
Well, that was some result. Whether or not you are an SNP supporter, I bet that few will have predicted an actual SNP overall majority (as they now have with a few results still to come in).
You could say from a law and justice perspective that we can now be reasonably sure that there will be continuation rather than major change in the policies pursued by the last administration – Gill review taken forward, likewise legal services reform, and a less punitive and more rehabilitative justice regime than promised by Labour or the Conservatives.
The next big decisions will fall to be taken once the Carloway review has reported, with its potential implications for corroboration as well as police detention powers. It will be interesting also to see whether there is a revival of the minimum alcohol pricing proposal, which on the debates that took place last time round would almost certainly bring a legal challenge on vires.
From a wider perspective however I suspect we are in for some turbulent times regarding the further passage of the Scotland Bill, even if that is largely in Westminster's hands, given the trenchant terms in which the tax raising powers, for example, were criticised by the (then minority) SNP members on the committee scrutinising it from the Holyrood perspective. And I don't think the SNP is yet ready to concede the proposed role of the Supreme Court in relation to Scottish appeals.
Then there will be the inevitable push for an independence referendum. Personally I believe the moral argument is now there that one should be held, giving the winning of a majority of seats: it is time to bring the issue to a head. (Though I can still foresee some jostling of position regarding timing, and who is going to have the final say on that?)
These are only initial thoughts. There is bound to be much more. I wrote before the election that the campaign seemed to me not to have caught fire. Political life in the next Parliament is going to make a lot more interesting viewing, not least for lawyers.