News

Joe O'Malley has taken up the reins as managing partner of Dublin-based Hayes Solicitors LLP, succeeding David Phelan. Previously head of the firm's litigation and dispute resolution team, Mr O'Malley took up the position with effect from Saturday 1 May.

A new online Irish commercial arbitration service backed by senior barristers and a retired Court of Appeal judge is set to be launched later this week. Mr Justice David Barniville, head of the commercial division of the High Court and the arbitration judge, will speak at the virtual launch event fo

Justice should continue to be administered in person after the pandemic, The Bar of Ireland, the Bar Council of Northern Ireland, the Faculty of Advocates and the Bar Council of England and Wales have said. The four bars said in a statement that they recognised "the justice system has undergone chan

A working group including lawyers, prosecutors and police is set to be established to identify practical measures to reduce the number of non-jury trials taking place in Northern Ireland. Under the Justice and Security (Northern Ireland) Act 2007, the Director of Public Prosecutions can direct that

Home support providers will be required to hold a license under proposed new legislation. The Department of Health has been given the go-ahead by ministers to draft a general scheme and heads of bill to establish a licensing framework for publicly funded, for-profit and not-for-profit home support p

Two pieces of legislation giving effect to EU directives on money laundering and white collar crime have cleared the Oireachtas. The Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) (Amendment) Bill will strengthen existing anti-money laundering legislation and will give effect to provisi

Community Law & Mediation (CLM) will tomorrow launch two new guides aimed at helping the public to understand and navigate employment and equality rights. A virtual launch event tomorrow morning will hear from Equality Minister Roderic O'Gorman, CLM CEO Rose Wall and managing solicitor Jane O'Su

UK law firm Shoosmiths has launched its first trainee solicitor programme in Northern Ireland. The Belfast office, which became part of Shoosmiths through a merger in 2016, will welcome graduates for the first time in September 2021, alongside nine of the firm's other UK offices.

A 92-year-old retired Garda sergeant has lodged proceedings with the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) in a pension parity dispute. KRW LAW LLP is representing Brendon Colvert, who will celebrate his 93rd birthday this July and is seeking equality of his monthly pension.

The Northern Ireland Prison Service (NIPS) has announced the appointment of David Savage as the new governor of Maghaberry Prison. Mr Savage, who has served as deputy governor since September 2019, formally took up the post yesterday.

Heavy metal band Twisted Sister has won a payout of nearly €1 million after an Australian politician ripped off the lyrics to "We're Not Gonna Take It" for his election campaign. Clive Palmer, a billionaire mining magnate whose right-wing United Australia Party failed to win a single seat in th

The High Court has quashed the refusal of an international protection application brought by a woman who claimed that she would be subjected to female genital mutilation if returned to Sierra Leone. The court determined that the International Protections Appeal Tribunal did not provide adequate reas

The draft heads of legislation providing a legal basis for the deployment and use of body-worn cameras by An Garda Síochána have been published following government approval.

Rachel Rodgers, partner at Walkers, considers the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on agreements between landlords and tenants. There is no doubt that as a consequence of the pandemic, the way we work and live has changed. Our attitudes, our priorities – they have all shifted slightly. They say

A Bill of Rights, with the inclusion of specific children’s rights, underpinned by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), could be transformative for children in Northern Ireland, the Children’s Law Centre has said. The list of issues facing children in Northern Ireland wa