News

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has been granted leave by the Supreme Court to exercise its amicus curiae function in a significant case examining the right to silence when a person is questioned as part of a criminal investigation. The case, Sweeney v Minister for Justice, Ireland an

Louth City Council is to seek legal advice on a proposed bye-law to prevent anti-abortion campaigners from targeting healthcare facilities offering abortion services. Councillors approved a motion by Cllr Emma Coffey, principal at Emma Coffey Solicitors, which proposed restrictions on certain behavi

Representatives of the four solicitor professions in the UK and Ireland have met in Belfast to discuss issues affecting lawyers across their jurisdictions.

The Limerick Solicitors Bar Association (LSBA) raised over €42,000 for local and national charities last year. The Children's Grief Centre, St Gabriel's School & Centre, Novas, the Catherine McAuley Special School, Corbett's Suicide Watch, St Vincent de Paul and the St Joseph's Foundation w

The winners of the Plain English Awards for Ireland, sponsored by Mason Hayes & Curran, have been announced by the National Adult Literacy Agency (NALA).

Jail terms of under six months are set to be banned in England and Wales under long-term plans announced by Justice Secretary David Gauke. In a landmark speech, Mr Gauke said that that the high rate of reoffending for those on sentences of less than six months showed that, for them and wider society

New guidelines to be released this week will recognise racial discrimination against people on the basis of their hairstyle, the New York Times reports. The change in the law will apply to anyone in the city but is intended to remedy the poor treatment of black people.

A Northern Ireland man has been jailed for stealing a diamond ring – by swallowing it. Ian Campbell, 54, was sentenced to more than eight years' imprisonment for "qualified theft" by a court in Turkey, Demiroren News Agency reports.

Damages for mental distress in a case brought by the statutory dependants of a woman who died as a result of alleged negligence must be paid only to the sole surviving dependant in circumstances where the second dependant died since the proceedings commenced. Finding that the €28,000 settlement

A revised edition of the Green Book, which sets out judicial guidelines on damages in personal injury cases in Northern Ireland, will take effect next week. The fifth edition of the Guidelines for the Assessment of General Damages in Personal Injury Cases in Northern Ireland has been produced by a c

The Supreme Court is set to sit in Galway for the first time next month. The court will sit in NUI Galway on 4-6 March, the first time that it has sat outside of a courthouse since returning to the Four Courts in 1932.

A cross-party group of MPs is calling on the UK Government to extend new domestic abuse legislation to Northern Ireland. Stella Creasy, Labour MP for Walthamstow, told BBC News that women in Northern Ireland are being denied "basic rights".

The London Irish Lawyers Association (LILA) has announced a new mentoring programme to allow experienced Irish solicitors and barristers working in London to provide careers advice to more junior members. Mentors and mentees joined members of the LILA executive committee at a launch event hosted by

John Stalker, the police officer who led a landmark investigation into "shoot-to-kill" allegations in Northern Ireland, has passed away at the age of 79. As Deputy Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police, Mr Stalker headed in the 1984 Stalker Inquiry into the shootings of suspected IRA members

Toni Fitzgerald-Gunn, associate partner at Worthingtons Solicitors in Belfast, writes on the recent equal pay case involving supermarket Asda. Long before the Equal Pay (NI) Act 1970 and since, equal pay has been of broad and current interest. Once more, a light is being shone on the alleged dispari