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A man has been jailed for four months for failing to give evidence at an inquest in a legal first. Duncan Lawrence, 60, was a consultant at a London care home where 19-year-old Sophie Bennett took her own life in May 2016.

Barry Walsh, partner and head of employment at Fieldfisher, considers employees' right to accompaniment or representation in internal company processes. A recent piece in the Law Society Gazette reported on how an employee involved a redundancy consultation process in New Zealand brought a clown (th

Staff Maghaberry Prison have received an Excellence Award from the International Corrections and Prisons Association (ICPA) at their annual conference in Buenos Aires. The award is in recognition of “outstanding programmes which contribute to the safe reintegration of offenders into the commun

The Solicitors Regulation Authority has found that a fifth of law firms in England and Wales are not compliant with the 2017 Money Laundering Regulations. In March, the SRA wrote to 400 firms asking them to demonstrate compliance with the regulations.

On 24 March 1661, Florence Newton was committed to prison in Youghal, Co Cork, having been accused of bewitching a young servant girl named Mary Langdon. At Florence’s trial on 11 September 1661, Mary gave evidence that the previous Christmas, Florence had gone to the house of John Pyne, where

McDonald's has apologised for promoting a Halloween dessert with the slogan "Sundae Bloody Sundae". The fast food chain said the ad campaign in Portugal was not meant to be an "insensitive reference to any historical event".

An evangelical Christian who alleged that he had been discriminated against by University College Dublin due to his religious beliefs has lost his complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission. The man alleged that the discrimination led to him withdrawing from his course at UCD, and sought redres

The chairperson of the Legal Aid Board has backed calls for fundamental and ambitious reform to the family law system. Philip O'Leary said he supported the findings of the Oireachtas justice committee's report on the family law system, which chairman Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said ma

Up to 28,000 prosecutions are at risk because of a legislative error in the Road Traffic Act 2016. In a written judgment issued yesterday, Ms Justice Úna Ní Raifeartaigh said parts of the law concerning fixed charge notices breached the constitutional right to a fair trial.

The Courts Service should order the immediate start of refurbishment works at Carndonagh Courthouse following the receipt of a key report today, a local councillor has said. Court sittings in Carndonagh were relocated to Buncrana at the start of March to allow for the courthouse to be examined and e

Plans for a new automatic enrolment pension system have moved forward after the Government approved a large part of the design for the new system. Around 600,000 workers will be automatically enrolled in retirement savings schemes under the plans, which cover workers over the age of 23 and earning m

The infamous ‘backstop’ is gone, but the new Irish Protocol could lead to the indefinite jurisdiction of the Court of Justice of the European Union within the United Kingdom, writes Oliver Garner of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law. The new Protocol on Ireland/N

Lenders must not add legal costs to mortgage accounts during repossession proceedings, the Central Bank of Ireland has warned. In a letter to lenders, the Central Bank said the application of legal costs "prior to the conclusion of repossession proceedings and prior to the decision by a court to awa

Claire Edgar, partner at Francis Hanna & Co Solicitors, considers yesterday's UK Supreme Court decision in a child abduction case. The majority of child abduction cases do not involve strangers. Children, who are caught up in the relationship disputes of their parents, are often removed from the

The controversial reference to women's "life within the home" in the Irish constitution will be explored at an event hosted by the Irish Women Lawyers' Association (IWLA) next month. The Government has committed to holding a future referendum on Article 41.2 of the Constitution.