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Business law firm Flynn O'Driscoll has hired Orla McCarthy as its new head of human resources in anticipation of growth in 2021 and beyond. Ms McCarthy spent over 20 years working in HR roles in the financial services sector, including roles with Standard Chartered Bank, Davy Stockbrokers and Barcla

The establishment of an independent Parole Board on a statutory footing will be completed by July this year, Justice Minister Helen McEntee has said. The justice minister has set out her plan for the full commencement of the Parole Act 2019 this year, which will build on "significant work" under tak

Fees for personal insolvency applications will continue to be waived until at least the end of 2023, Justice Minister Helen McEntee has announced. The waiver of all fees payable to the Insolvency Service of Ireland and to the courts was first introduced in 2014 and previously extended in 2017.

A lawyer has been imprisoned after exchanging hundreds of calls and messages with a prisoner via contraband phones smuggled into a jail. Dene McClean, 37, communicated with Jonathan Gomez on various illicit phones on more than 500 occasions, it was found.

A non-binary person from El Salvador has been granted asylum in the UK in a first-of-its-kind ruling. Arthur Britney Joestar, 29, identified as a gay man when they arrived in the UK in October 2017 but came to identify as non-binary – i.e. neither a man nor a woman – after settling in Li

The highest court in Japan has endorsed a ruling granting the country's longest-serving death row inmate a retrial. Iwao Hakamada, 84, has been on death row for more than 50 years after he was convicted of robbing and murdering his boss as well as the man's wife and two children.

Drone owners must register their devices under regulations designed to protect privacy. New rules require all drones fitted with cameras to be logged with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) and the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI) have taken on new roles overseeing the UK government's commitment to protecting equality and human rights in Northern Ireland after Brexit. The government committed in the Northern Ireland Pr

A former lawyer who used social media to report from Wuhan following the first outbreak of Covid-19 last February has been jailed for four years for "picking quarrels and provoking trouble". Zhang Zhan, a 37-year-old human rights activist who was also detained in 2019 for speaking in support of anti

A dozen people have been fined after breaking strict Covid-19 rules to play dominoes together in a restaurant. Police said they entered a restaurant in east London and found "a group of 12 people hiding in a dark room".

The Court of Appeal has ruled that the defendants in a personal injuries action must provide further information to the plaintiff about a “bald denial” in their defence. The plaintiff had argued that section 13 of the Civil Liability and Courts Act 2004 required the defendant to provide

Judge Colin Daly, the president of the District Court, has been nominated for appointment as a Circuit Court judge. Ministers agreed to elevate Judge Daly to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Gerald Keys in May.

A former deputy secretary general of the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) has received a prestigious Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad. Professor William Duncan received the award in the category of "Peace, Reconciliation and Development" in recognitio

An accurate report of inquest proceedings did not breach the deceased's wife's right to privacy, the Press Council of Ireland has ruled. The woman complained in October to the non-statutory Press Ombudsman, the newspaper industry self-regulator, over a report in the Waterford News & Star concern

A small number of virtual prison visits will take place on Christmas Day this year, the Northern Ireland Prison Service has announced. The move follows the suspension of physical prison visits from midnight tonight under the latest Covid-19 restrictions.