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Belfast lawyer Linda Johnston, private client partner at Francis Hanna & Co Solicitors, has announced her retirement after 38 years in legal practice. Ms Johnston first joined Francis Hanna & Co in 1983 as a newly-qualified solicitor in the property law department. By 1988, she had become th

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has proposed resuming investigations into alleged atrocity crimes in Afghanistan, with a focus on Islamist groups like the Taliban – while "de-prioritising" alleged crimes by the US. Karim A. A. Khan QC has sought authorisation fro

Two women have been jailed for more than five years after becoming the first people in Ireland to be convicted of human trafficking. Alicia Edosa, 45, and Edith Enoghaghase, 31, were both found guilty of two offences under the Criminal Law (Human Trafficking) Act 2008 after a six-week jury trial in

The late Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore "embodied" the case for always having a judge from Northern Ireland on the Supreme Court bench, Lady Hale has said. The former Supreme Court president reflected on the importance of the court having judges from all parts of the United Kingdom as she addressed a virtu

The Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) is expecting the number of claims lodged this year to be down by 20 per cent on the previous year. Stephen Watkins, director of corporate services for PIAB, told The Irish Times that the figure was already 10 per cent lower as of August and expected to d

The English Intellectual Property Enterprise Court has rejected a claim for trade mark infringement by a self-described “spiritual and holistic therapist” who claimed that another holistic therapist had been using her mark to market online courses and upheld a counterclaim of passing off

Northern Ireland's Department of Justice has no figures on the number of cases dismissed at court as a result of errors in warrants or improperly completed warrants. In response to a parliamentary question, justice minister Naomi Long said: "Departmental datasets do not hold information in relation

Our regular round-up of deals involving Irish law firms. Submit your deals to newsdesk@irishlegal.com. Ronan Daly Jermyn has acted as Irish legal advisor to GTT Communications, Inc. on the sale of its infrastructure business to I Squared Capital.

A vicar has defended a decision to host a four-day beer festival in a church graveyard – where revellers sat on headstones and used graves as tables. Reverend Martin Anderson, who organised the festival at St Mary the Virgin church in Stockton-on-Tees in north-east England, said most people "h

Ministers are expected to approve a comprehensive review of Ireland's freedom of information legislation to report by the middle of next year. Public expenditure minister Michael McGrath, who spoke about his desire to review the law in June, will put a proposal to his cabinet colleagues today.

Strategic planning policy on oil and gas development in Northern Ireland is set to be reviewed to ensure it "remains appropriate in the context of the climate emergency". Infrastructure minister Nichola Mallon said the review will include consideration of unconventional hydrocarbon development, comm

Staff and friends of Madden & Finucane Solicitors are taking part in the Deep RiverRock Belfast City Marathon to raise money for Action Cancer and the Stroke Association. Solicitor advocate Michael Madden, pictured with other members of the Belfast Solicitors' Association, said: "This year we ha

Belfast law firm McKees has welcomed three new trainee solicitors after a record number of applications for its annual trainee solicitor programme. Catriona Lilley, Sarah Bissett and Anselm Henry will gain experience in the firm's corporate and commercial, banking and financial services, real estate

The High Court has set aside a bankruptcy summons where the respondent claimed to have suffered a “bombardment of calls” to his work by a Middle Eastern bank. The court held that the debtor had raised an arguable defence that the bank had harassed him after threatening to imprison him fo

Witness actions in the High Court will be listed for a physical hearing as the "default position" from next week, the president of the High Court has announced. In a statement on the management of court proceedings in the Michaelmas term, Ms Justice Mary Irvine said remote hearings would only be use