News

The High Court in Belfast has reserved judgment in a case concerning whether a teenager suffered discrimination when he was named as a criminal suspect by media outlets. JKL, from Co Antrim, was arrested in October 2015 when he was 15 years old in connection with the high-profile TalkTalk hack.

Rose Wall, chief executive of Community Law & Mediation (CLM), examines the impact of the Housing Bill currently under consideration by the Oireachtas. The declaration by the Dáil in May last year that Ireland is facing a “climate and biodiversity emergency” would suggest that

Criminal cases concerning possession or distribution of child abuse material are taking up to 10 years to be dealt with, according to new analysis. Dublin Circuit Criminal Court sentenced 45 offenders between 1 January 2018 and 1 January 2020, according to figures obtained by The Irish Times.

Northern Ireland's health system lacks the resources and facilities to deal with defendants with mental health issues, a Crown Court judge has said. Judge Philip Babington, the Recorder of Derry, hit out at the "shambles" as he ruled on an appeal in Londonderry County Court involving a 38-year-old w

A terrified couple who thought they were being burgled were left red-faced after the intruder turned out to be a Roomba. Thomas and Elisa Milam called the police after they heard noises in their house at night, not realising it was the robotic vacuum cleaner they had bought for Christmas.

Arthur Cox has announced the promotion of Brendan Wallace, Imelda Shiels and Ryan Ferry to partners in the firm's Dublin office. The three lawyers all started their legal careers at the firm. Mr Wallace and Ms Shiels have become partners in the finance department, while Mr Ferry has become a partner

Dillon Eustace has announced the appointment of Richard Lacken, Philip Lea and Rachel Turner as partners, bringing its total partner count to 45. Mr Lacken has become a partner in the firm's tax team, while Mr Lea has become a partner in the corporate and M&A team and Ms Turner has become a part

Newly-qualified barristers are giving up on criminal work in favour of better-paying work in the civil courts, new figures suggest. Of the 197 new barristers who started practising in criminal between 2011 and the end of 2019, just 88 remain, according to figures published by the Irish Independent.

The number of mergers notified to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) halved following an increase in the financial threshold at the start of last year. A total of 47 mergers and acquisitions were notified to the watchdog in 2019, a 52 per cent decrease on 2018.

Ministers have received "emphatic" legal advice that individual lawyers working for the Government should no longer be named. The Dáil public accounts committee was told last October that lawyers working for the Government on the high-profile Apple tax case could not be named.

Drivers should not be able to renew their motor tax or sell their cars without paying outstanding fines, the Courts Service of Ireland has proposed. Chief executive Angela Denning set out the proposal in correspondence to the Oireachtas public accounts committee last year, The Irish Times reports.

Ireland's special rapporteur on child protection has been asked to review issues relating to surrogacy and LGBT+ people. Dr Conor O'Mahony, the child law expert appointed to the post last summer, will present his recommendations to Health Minister Simon Harris.

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan has backed renewed calls for an independent inquiry into the 1989 killing of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane following the release of new State papers. According to documents released under the 30-year-rule, the Irish Government believed that remarks by a senior Brit

More than two-thirds of women in-house lawyers believe the gender pay gap is an issue in their industry, according to a new survey by Mason Hayes & Curran (MHC). The proportion has grown slightly since the law firm's previous survey a year earlier, but nearly as big a proportion of men (62 per c

Cheryl Lamont, chief executive of the Probation Board for Northern Ireland (PBNI), has been named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. The probation chief was recognised in the New Year Honours list for services to criminal justice.