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In the second of his jurisprudential primers, Benjamin Bestgen invokes Greek wisdom in thinking about the merits of democracy. See part one here. Likening statecraft to captaining a ship goes back to the Greek poet Alcaeus of Mytilene but was made famous in Plato’s Republic.

In the first in a series of jurisprudential primers, Benjamin Bestgen reflects on philosophical thinking. When I studied philosophy, one of the typical remarks from well-meaning people with little knowledge of the subject were pointers to Rodin’s sculpture The Thinker and that it must be inter

Northern Ireland's ban on same-sex marriage amounted to unjustified discrimination against same-sex couples, the Court of Appeal in Belfast has ruled. However, delivering the judgment, the Lord Chief Justice, Sir Declan Morgan, said there was no purpose to be served by making a declaration under sec

International law firm Pinsent Masons has promoted three Belfast lawyers to legal directors in its 2020 promotion round. Lisa Early and Michael Hamill have been promoted to director in the corporate team, while Jane Boyd has been promoted to director in banking.

Solicitor Edel Coughlan has joined the legal team at the Asset Management Exchange (AMX), an institutional platform for investors and asset managers. Established by Willis Towers Watson in 2017, AMX negotiates with managers, transitions assets, provides reporting and adds an extra layer of oversight

Dr Ciara Fitzpatrick has joined the Transitional Justice Institute (TJI) at Ulster University as a lecturer in law. Having worked extensively on access to justice and social security law, she brings additional capacity to the institute's work on gender and on socioeconomic rights.

Irish website operators have been warned they could face enforcement action from the Data Protection Commission (DPC) over their use of tracking cookies. Following a sweep of 38 websites across a range of sectors, the watchdog said users of Irish websites "are being tracked by third parties to a sig

Lawyer Bill Holohan is reflecting this week on the 20th anniversary of his "radical" appointment as notary for the cities and counties of Cork and Dublin. At the time of Mr Holohan's appointment by then Chief Justice Ronan Keane in 2000, notaries had only been appointed for adjacent counties.

Belfast-based MKB Law has welcomed back associate director and employment head Suzanne Keenan from maternity leave. In a blog post, Ms Keenan said her return to work during the coronavirus pandemic "may not be what I pictured, but it is still great to be back at it".

Volkswagen installed illegal "defeat devices" in its vehicles, the High Court in London has ruled in a significant victory for litigants suing the car manufacturer over the emissions scandal. The ruling on preliminary issues overcomes a significant hurdle in establishing liability to the group of ar

A round-up of deals involving Irish law firms. Submit your deals to newsdesk@irishlegal.com. LK Shields acted on the sale of its long-standing client Nicholas O’Dwyer Limited, a consulting and engineering practice, to RSK, an integrated environmental, engineering and technical services busines

A man has been charged after hosting a Pink Floyd tribute concert outside his home in violation of a ban on social gatherings. John Maldjian, 54, was charged with various offences after police in Rumson, New Jersey, received a call about a group of 30 people, aged from around 40 to 50 – possib

The Court of Appeal has allowed an appeal taken by the Recorded Artists Actors Performers Ltd (RAAP) in proceedings taken against a record companies organisation, Phonographic Performance (Ireland) Ltd, over calculation of music license fees. Background 

Children are allowed to move between parents' homes during the coronavirus pandemic to comply with access orders, according to new guidance for lawyers. The Law Society of Ireland, The Bar of Ireland and the Family Lawyers' Association yesterday jointly launched updated guidelines for access during

Criminal barristers have been told they will receive legal aid payments for adjourned cases during the coronavirus lockdown and "refresher fees" when trials resume. The Department of Justice confirmed in response to representations from The Bar of Ireland that brief fees will be paid now in respect