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Global law firm Herbert Smith Freehills has opened applications for its alternative legal services (ALT) trainee solicitor programme in Belfast to external candidates for the first time. The Belfast office launched training contract opportunities to internal candidates in 2012 and, to date, has supp

The parents of Madeleine McCann have lost a case at the European Court of Human Rights over their right to respect for private and family life. The case concerned statements made by a former detective inspector – in a book, a documentary and a newspaper interview – about the applicants&r

Midlands firm J.D. Scanlon & Co has announced the appointment of Hilary Cahalan as a solicitor. The general practice law firm now employs eight solicitors and a total of 20 staff.

A man who filmed himself making violent threats while dressed as Batman villain The Joker has been banned from wearing fancy dress. Jeremy Garnier, 51, pleaded guilty to making a terrorist threat — but insists that he had been "in character" and had not intended to threaten anyone.

Belfast-based MKB Law has welcomed Tonya Gregg, Chloe Stewart and Laura McGuckin as trainee solicitors. Ms Gregg, who graduated with a law degree from Queen's University Belfast in 2019, joined the residential property department at MKB Law in January 2021 as a paralegal.

A new €22 million courts complex for Tralee will be built on the site of the former Denny bacon factory after Kerry councillors agreed to sell the land to the Courts Service for €160,000. Kerry County Council yesterday voted by 28-4 with one abstention in favour of the proposal to sell aro

Adnan Syed, whose imprisonment for the 1999 murder of his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee was the focus of the record-breaking podcast Serial, has been freed from prison after his conviction was vacated. A judge in Baltimore, Maryland highlighted issues in the disclosure of exculpatory evidence to Mr Syed

Judge Síofra O’Leary, the Irish judge on the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), has been elected as the president of the court for a two-year term. She is the first woman and the first Irish person to serve as president of the court in its 63-year history, and will take up office o

A town in the Netherlands has launched legal proceedings against Twitter after false claims of a local paedophile network were circulated online. Bodegraven-Reeuwijk, a municipality in the west of the country with a population of around 34,000, has been at the centre of absurd conspiracy theories al

A police investigation into the theft of a solid gold toilet worth £4.8 million (€5.5 million) has reached a dead end. The odd artwork was stolen from Blenheim Palace two days after it went on display at the Duke of Marlborough's country home.

Chief Justice Donal O'Donnell will host a public conference next month to mark a visit of the president and members of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The European judges are coming to Dublin for a judicial programme while Ireland holds the presidency of the Council of Europe committee o

Lawyers should be "ethically obliged" to advise clients of serious risks if they pursue projects inconsistent with the 1.5˚C global warming target, a group of lawyers and climate campaigners have said. An open letter signed by more than 170 members of the legal profession, principally in England, w

Pinsent Masons partner Neil Keenan has been appointed to the Company Law Review Group (CLRG). Following his appointment by Leo Varadkar, the Tánaiste and minster for enterprise, trade and employment, Mr Keenan will serve as the Law Society of Ireland's representative on the group for a f

Third-party funding of international arbitration will be legalised in Ireland through an amendment to legislation currently before the Oireachtas, the Department of Justice has said. The restriction on third-party funding will be removed through a government amendment to the Courts and Civil Law (Mi

Hungary is set to lose billions of euros of EU funding in connection with breaches of the principles of the rule of law under proposals from the European Commission. Around €7.5 billion could be withheld pending Hungary's implementation of remedial measures agreed after months of talks between