Analysis

The Institutional Burials Act 2022 commenced on 15th July 2022.1 It is a remarkable new law that literally creates “groundbreaking” powers. Its three goals in relation to “manifestly inappropriate burials”2 on institutional land are to: (i) identify human remains, (ii) make f

John Dugdale, partner at Belfast firm Carson McDowell, examines a recent English court ruling with significance for construction law. A recent judgment of the Court of Appeal in England and Wales has provided guidance on whether a collateral warranty can be a “construction contract” for

Claire Morrissey of Maples and Calder, the Maples Group's law firm, examines new EU guidelines on GDPR fines. The approach to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) fines has varied significantly across EU member states. On 16 May 2022, the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) published draf

Darryl Broderick of RDJ LLP writes on a recent Court of Appeal decision concerning directors' obligations under the Companies Act. Section 819 of the Companies Act 2014 operates to restrict directors of insolvent companies from being appointed or acting as a director or secretary of a company and fr

Kirsten Magee, partner at Belfast-based Mills Selig, examines the unofficial Bridgerton musical from an intellectual property perspective. I do enjoy when one of my passions (in this case musical theatre) throws up an interesting legal point. I therefore read with interest the particulars of a claim

Jason O'Sullivan, principal and founder of J.O.S Solicitors, urges the government to take action in the wake of scrutiny of RTÉ's employment practices. The national broadcaster Raidió Teilfís Éireann (RTÉ) continues to face ongoing scrutiny and criticism of its wel

Daragh Troy BL summarises the outcome of a recent court ruling with significance for data controllers in the EU. Does your spouse's name reveal your sexual orientation? The Court of Justice of the European Union has delivered judgment and, unsurprisingly, again given the broadest possible interpreta

Matthew Howse, partner at Eversheds Sutherland in Belfast, highlights recent changes to gaming laws in Northern Ireland. For years, people in this part of the world have been used to seeing “Northern Ireland excluded” or “does not apply in Northern Ireland” on their TV screen

The English courts have held that the “lis pendens” provisions of Brussels I Recast apply to proceedings commenced in that jurisdiction after the expiry of the Brexit transition period where relevant proceedings were already commenced in an EU Member State before that expiry date. In thi

I have just read [Connor Beaton's] review of Prima Facie in Irish Legal News and I felt compelled to contact you with my thoughts. Apart from your introduction, I would disagree with your review and would like to offer an alternative interpretation which might add to your thoughts on the play.

There’s no denying that Jodie Comer's West End début, brought to cinemas yesterday by National Theatre Live, is electrifying. From the moment she walks on stage as Tessa, a confident criminal defence lawyer on the verge of greatness at the London bar, Comer demands nothing less than rap

Ray Lambe, partner at OSM Partners LLP, dismisses the notion that lawyers are opposed to court reform. In a recent editorial, The Irish Times called for reform of the Irish court system and curiously linked the slow pace of reform to “entrenched opposition” within the legal profession.

Matheson partners Karen Reynolds and Michael Byrne discuss a recent successful application in the UK courts for service of court proceedings by transfer of an NFT, and consider whether similar applications for substituted service could be on the horizon in Ireland. In a first for the UK courts,

Dr Conor McCormick of Queen's University Belfast examines recent developments concerning the office of Attorney General and its equivalents. This month marks the publication of my book on The Constitutional Legitimacy of Law Officers in the United Kingdom, which contains a detailed analysis of the f

Philip Lee partners Sean McElligott and Anne Bateman examine coming changes to EU rules for big tech companies. On Tuesday, the European Parliament passed the Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Marketing Act (DMA) in what European Commissioner, Thierry Breton referred to as a “landslide vo