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The number of applications to the legal aid agency's COVID-19 interim payment scheme has fallen sharply in its second full week of operation. The Legal Services Agency (LSA) received 444 requests in the week ending 22 May 2020, a 45 per cent decline from 818 in the previous week.

Lawyers for around 200 people who were interned between 1972 and 1975 will launch legal proceedings against the legality of their detention today following the Supreme Court's landmark ruling in R v Adams. Earlier this month, the court unanimously held that the interim custody order (ICO) made in re

Belfast solicitor Michael Brentnall has been warned for the third time in eight months that he is in "imminent" danger of attack, according to reports. Mr Brentnall, of human rights law firm Brentnall Limited, was told by the PSNI on Wednesday that his home and business are in danger, The Irish News

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin outlined his views on the future of the Irish economy after COVID-19 at a webinar hosted by law firm McCann FitzGerald this morning. In conversation with the firm's managing partner Barry Devereux, the opposition leader said the next government should

A new paper setting out the constitutional status and functions of UK law officers has been published by the House of Commons Library. Dr Conor McCormick, lecturer at QUB School of Law, co-authored the 60-page paper with Graeme Cowie of the House of Commons Library.

Patrick Penninckx, head of the information society department at the Council of Europe, conducted a webinar entitled Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights this week. It was organised by the European Law Students Association (ELSA) as part of a series of webinars on law and technology. The sp

Two machete-wielding men who were hired to fulfil a bizarre sex fantasy broke into the wrong man's house after an unfortunate mix-up. The men were hired online by Australian man Kevin Costello to break into his home, tie him up in his underwear and touch him with a broom.

Ireland's defamation regime is having a detrimental impact on press freedom and the commercial viability of the press, the Press Council of Ireland and the Office of the Press Ombudsman have said. The independent press regulators repeated their call for the government to complete a long-promised rev

Lurgan solicitor Harry McCourt is pressing ahead with the establishment of his new firm, McCourt Solicitors, in spite of challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Speaking to Irish Legal News, Mr McCourt, who has practised in Lurgan for the past four years, said the process "has been tricky to say

Northern Ireland's planning system is "lagging badly" behind the rest of the UK in its response to the COVID-19 pandemic by failing to introduce remote hearings, construction industry groups have said. In a joint letter to the Planning Appeals Commission (PAC), nine industry groups expressed "grave

Matheson has been named both Irish Tax Firm of the Year and Irish Transfer Pricing Firm of the Year by the International Tax Review. The ITR's European Awards are widely recognised as one of the benchmarks for excellence in the field of international tax advice.

The next government has been urged to prioritise the establishment of a Penal Policy Consultative Council following the publication of new research on reoffending. The Department of Justice's commitment to evidence-based policy-making "could be best demonstrated" through pursuing the move, first rec

By David O’Brien, founder, Commssolver PR As the Fake News phenomenon begins to recede in favour of Trusted Sources, one of the most fascinating dynamics of our current situation managing the Covid-19 pandemic, is the front and centre return of Expertise.

Gardaí should lose the power to arrest people for failing to comply with public health guidelines in less than two weeks, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has said. The rights group has called for the policing powers introduced under the Health Act 1947 (Section 31a – Tempor

The reconstitution of the Northern Ireland Guardian Ad Litem Agency's (NIGALA) solicitor panel has been postponed for at least six months. The current 95-solicitor panel, constituted in 2015, is approaching the end of its five-year term and a new panel was due to be constituted.