News

Peers in the House of Lords have voted in favour of an amendment to the Police, Crime, Courts and Sentencing Bill to scrap the Vagrancy Act across England and Wales. Already repealed in Scotland, the 1824 legislation is still continually used to criminalise people for rough sleeping or beg

Ministers have announced plans for a one-off public holiday in March 2022 and a new annual public holiday in February from next year. Friday 18 March 2022 will become a public holiday "in recognition of the efforts of the general public, volunteers and all workers during the Covid-19 pandemic, and i

Northern Ireland's labour market is showing "signs of continued improvement" with fears of mass unemployment seemingly averted, an employment law expert at DWF has said. The latest monthly labour market report was published by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) yesterday.

Human rights law firm KOD Lyons has announced a new legal partnership with Irish autism charity AsIAm. The partnership will allow the charity to launch a new in-house legal advice clinic, with services provided by solicitors at KOD Lyons.

Pro-Palestinian lawyers will next week host an online event to help lawyers and law students navigate apartheid-related issues in the UK courts, including in asylum, defamation and discrimination cases. Mira Hammad, a barrister in England and Wales, and Rania Muhareb, a PhD scholar at the Irish Cent

To mark the Day of the Endangered Lawyer, the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) is co-hosting a webinar next Monday on the United Nations Guidelines for Lawyers in support of peaceful assemblies. Organised by the IBAHRI, the Geneva Human Rights Platform (GHRP), th

The denial of domiciliary care allowance (DCA) to the parents of a severely disabled child, who needs continual care, because of the time the child has spent in hospital is discriminatory, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has said. The rights watchdog is appearing as amicus curiae in a

Happy couples have been banned from laughing at their weddings by authorities in the south of Russia. A new decree in the Rostov region dictates that there should be no laughter, loud conversations or exclamations during civil marriage ceremonies.

Nearly two-thirds of Irish employers believe they should have access to the vaccine status of their employees, a new survey by McCann FitzGerald LLP and Mazars has found. A majority (56 per cent) of organisations responding to the annual GDPR survey said the inability to process employees' vaccine s

A high-profile US lawyer who represented Guantanamo Bay detainees and NSA whistleblower Chelsea Manning will argue for the abolition of Ireland's Special Criminal Court at an online event next week. Nancy Hollander will be joined on a panel by Osgur Breatnach, who was wrongly convicted in the Specia

Belfast-based Mills Selig has been presented with the bronze diversity mark by Diversity Mark Northern Ireland in recognition of the law firm’s ongoing commitment to gender equality. The firm, whose board has a majority of women, received the award following an independent assessment process w

Thousands more people will be called for jury service in Northern Ireland this year in anticipation of a greater number of applications for excusal or deferral because of the pandemic. Some 40,300 people will be called for jury service this year, a 16 per cent increase on the 34,700 called last year

Irish lawyer David Berkery has joined US law firm Vinson & Elkins as a partner in its new aviation finance practice. Mr Berkery, who joins from A&L Goodbody, will remain based in Dublin while forming part of a new group based in the firm's New York office.

Magistrates in England and Wales are to have their sentencing powers increased in order to reduce pressure on the Crown Courts and "speed up justice", it was confirmed today. Under plans announced by Justice Secretary Dominic Raab, the maximum six-month prison sentence that can currently be handed o

Scotland's High Court of Justiciary has refused an appeal against extradition by an Irish citizen who claimed he was at risk of having to “slop out” the chamber pot of his prison cell if he were returned to Ireland to serve a custodial sentence. It was argued by Kevin McGourty that there