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Lengthy prison sentences imposed on nine Catalan pro-independence leaders by the Spanish courts yesterday risk having "a chilling effect on freedom of expression and association", a human rights expert has warned. Former Catalan vice president Oriol Junqueras was yesterday sentenced to 13 years in p

Prisoners from Maghaberry are supporting a blind schoolgirl with her classroom studies by producing her school books in Braille. Eight-year-old Eryn Kirkpatrick was born with the rare condition Septo-optic dysplasia which has left her completely blind and also affects her growth.

A round-up of deals involving Irish law firms. Submit your deals to newsdesk@irishlegal.com. Matheson acted as Irish legal and tax counsel in connection with the $2 billion Juniper Receivables 2019-1 DAC securitisation of US auto contracts acquired by Ally Bank.

A member of the public has agreed a repayment plan with a local authority which accidentally paid him nearly £300,000. Fife Council, in Scotland, was supposed to pay the man £59.95 a week, but accidentally paid £59,395 per week instead – and didn't notice until around £

Clare County Council has been granted a permanent injunction restraining a couple and their family from trespassing on a housing estate where they had previously held a tenancy. The family had lived on the site for over 14 years before being victims of an arson attack, and the Council had promised t

A recent Supreme Court ruling could encourage legislative intervention in the allocation of the burden of proof, raising "the spectre of interference" with the presumption of innocence, a legal academic has warned. Professor Liz Heffernan delivered a lecture at the second Irish Supreme Court Review

Former High Court judge Mr Justice Bryan McMahon, who chaired the working group on direct provision in 2015, has said that the system "may not be perfect, but it's much better than it was". The retired judge made the remarks at the Law Society of Ireland's annual human rights and equality conference

Solicitor Gary Lee has been endorsed by the Independent Law Centres Network in his bid for election to the Law Society Council. Mr Lee, managing solicitor at Ballymun Community Law Centre, is competing for one of 15 places on the governing body.

People who were born in Northern Ireland and identify as Irish are still British citizens, the Upper Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber) has ruled. Tribunal judges ruled against immigration rights campaigner Emma DeSouza, who has been fighting to bring her husband to Northern Ireland as the fa

Maghaberry Prison has become the first in the country to allow visits by autistic children, under a pioneering new initiative. A specially adapted crèche with sensory toys and apparatus has been installed to allow autistic children to visit their incarcerated fathers in a bid to improve rehab

Prisoners at Magilligan with ambitions to one-day work in the construction industry have taken part in the first ever Skillbuild NI competition in a UK prison. The Northern Ireland Prison Service, in partnership with the North West Regional College and Skillbuild NI, hosted the competition for priso

Lord Keen of Elie QC, the Advocate General for Scotland, has been accused of professional misconduct and will be the subject of disciplinary proceedings later this month. On 29 October, Lord Keen, who represented the government in the recent Scottish Brexit litigation, will appear before the Bar Tri

A tool that aims to make the UK’s human rights records transparent and the government accountable has been launched. HumanRightsTracker.com allows civil society organisations, academics, parliamentarians and legal professionals to learn about the UK’s human rights duties under UN treatie

California has introduced a ban on the sale and manufacture of new fur products, becoming the first state in the US to do so. The new law was brought into effect at the same time as legislation barring most animals from circus performances, The Guardian reports.

A man lost most of his life savings after his best friend turned an oil-fired boiler in his workshop on – unaware that €540,000 was stashed inside. The 49-year-old from Soest, near Dortmund in Germany, had kept the cash in the boiler because it was no longer used.