News

Legislation aimed at clearing the backlog before the Forestry Appeals Committee has come into force. The Forestry (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020, which was signed into law last Friday, was commenced on Tuesday and secondary legislation to give effect to it came into force yesterday.

Retired Belfast solicitor Gerald Harrison, whose legal career spanned over four decades, has passed away. Mr Harrison was admitted to the roll of solicitors in 1954 and later became principal of Belfast-based Harrison Leitch & Logan.

Vatican money intended for the rescue of Catholic hostages was allegedly misused to buy luxury handbags and clothing. An investigation into Vatican finances has concluded that €500,000 paid to a company owned by Cecilia Marogna was spent on clothes and accessories from Prada and Yves Saint Laur

Sir Declan Morgan, the Lord Chief Justice, sitting with Lord Justice Treacy and Mr Justice Huddleston as the Divisional Court of the High Court of Justice of Northern Ireland, has dismissed an application for judicial review arising out of the ‘downstream monitoring’ of police interviews

Mr Justice Séamus Woulfe will not meet the Chief Justice to discuss the findings of the Denham report until next week after requesting a postponement on medical grounds. The Supreme Court judge and former Attorney General was originally due to meet Chief Justice Frank Clarke on Monday, but so

Irish Legal News is inviting views from the legal profession on Mr Justice Séamus Woulfe's continued membership of the Supreme Court in light of golfgate. The Supreme Court judge and former Attorney General is due to meet the Chief Justice next week in the wake of last week's Denham report.

The Supreme Court has formally called 20 barristers to the Inner Bar in a virtual ceremony.

Insurance risk and commercial law specialist firm BLM has announced a series of promotions across its Belfast and Derry offices as part of a promotions round across Britain and Ireland. Rachel Keenan has been promoted to partner in Belfast, while Andrew McCorry and Rory Potter in Belfast and James K

Three new commissioners have joined the Law Reform Commission for a five-year term. The new commissioners are Mr Justice Maurice Collins of the Court of Appeal, Mr Justice Richard Humphreys of the High Court and Dr Andrea Mulligan, a barrister and assistant professor of law at Trinity College Dublin

A review of Ireland's spent convictions regime, which is likely to lead to the broadening of the range of convictions that are considered spent, has begun with the launch of a government consultation. The consultation, launched by Justice Minister Helen McEntee yesterday, invites views on issues suc

Fresh cuts to legal aid for international protection applications will further limit access to justice for vulnerable people, lawyers have warned. The new legal aid scheme includes dramatic cuts, such as reducing the fee for preparing submissions for an application by 58 per cent from €730 to &

Legislation intended to safeguard records from the commission of investigation into mother and baby homes has been approved by ministers. Children's Minister Roderic O'Gorman yesterday received government approval for the text of the Commission of Investigation (Mother and Baby Homes and certain rel

Fiona Ryan has been appointed as Commissioner for Survivors of Institutional Childhood Abuse (COSICA) for a five-year term beginning in December. The establishment of the new independent office fulfils one of the recommendations of the inquiry chaired by the late Sir Anthony Hart, which was publishe

Ronan Hynes, partner at Sellors LLP, considers the accelerated growth of litigation technology arising out of Covid-19. The recent call for action by the Restaurants Association of Ireland to deal with commercial landlords (some of whom continue to charge their tenants full rent rates during the Cov

In the third of his articles on free speech, Benjamin Bestgen stresses that freedom of expression must be examined in context. See his last piece here. In many societies worldwide, people need to be cautious with their personal expressions, be it through speech, fashion, lifestyle choices, hobbies o