News

A round-up of human rights stories from around the world. New Zealand faces global pressure over move to let resident be extradited to China

Leman Solicitors LLP has announced the appointment of Edon Byrnes as a partner in the firm's corporate team. Mr Byrnes joins Leman from DWF Ireland and has over 16 years' experience advising on a wide range of corporate matters including mergers and acquisitions, share/asset acquisitions and disposa

Law students and graduates in Northern Ireland have been invited to submit essays on "eco-anxiety" and human rights to a new competition named in memory of Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore. Organised by the Human Rights Lawyers Association (HRLA) young lawyers' committee, the competition invites essays on th

A police force has been mocked by social media users after boasting about a drug raid that failed to turn up any illegal drugs. Police in the English town of Keighley tweeted two photos of doors which were knocked in during early morning raids searching for Class A drugs, which include heroin and co

Belfast solicitor Gillian Shaw has been appointed as senior legal counsel at AIM-listed medical technology company Diaceutics plc. Ms Shaw joins the company from Invest Northern Ireland, where she worked as general counsel. Prior to this, she worked as a solicitor in Cleaver Fulton Rankin and the Be

Parents and carers will gain a right to request flexible working, including the right to request compressed or reduced hours, under legislation expected to be enacted by the summer. The Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill, now being drafted by the Office of the Attorney General, will

England should follow in the footsteps of Scotland and Wales and ban smacking, the children's commissioner has said. Dame Rachel de Souza said she was supportive of changing the law and was "against violence of any kind against children".

James Kingston, barrister and legal adviser to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), has passed away. A graduate of Trinity College Dublin and LSE, Mr Kingston qualified as a barrister in 1992 and joined the DFA in 1995. He became legal adviser and a member of the DFA's management board in 2009.

A newly-opened equine centre at Castlerea Prison will allow prisoners to develop skills in horse husbandry for employment in the equine industry after their release. The "Horses of Hope" centre, the result of an innovative partnership between the Irish Prison Service and the horse racing industry, w

A family's new puppy has turned into a profitable investment after digging up valuable gold coins on his first walk. Ollie, a young lagotto romagnolo, well known as truffle hunters, dug up 15 sovereign coins valued at £5,943.96 when taken for a walk near Blackpool in northern England, The Time

Stalking and non-fatal strangulation will become standalone offences under legislation announced by justice minister Helen McEntee today. Though both stalking and non-fatal strangulation are already crimes, the Criminal Justice (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill will make the law "clearer and stronger"

Derry and Strabane firm McCay Solicitors has announced the appointment of Andrea McGill as an associate solicitor in the firm's probate and property department. The appointment reunites Andrea McGill with firm founder Gareth McCay and associate solicitor Aaron Mullin, who are all cousins.

Our regular round-up of deals involving Irish law firms. Submit your deals to newsdesk@irishlegal.com. Maples and Calder (Ireland) LLP, the Maples Group's law firm, has advised the first Irish regulated funds to be granted permission by the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) to take exposure to crypto-as

Businesses with a UK turnover of less than £10 million will be removed from the scope of the UK's merger control regime, the government has announced. Under the "small merger safe harbour", mergers will be exempted from review by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) where each party's U

A group of lawyers from the UK should be banned from entering the US because they have allegedly “enabled malign activities of Russian oligarchs”, a congressman has claimed. Steve Cohen, a congressman from Tennessee, has called for six media lawyers to be refused visas.