Northern Ireland

Belfast lawyer Claire Edgar has delivered a talk on domestic abuse to lawyers at the Jersey International Family Law Conference 2022. Ms Edgar, family law partner at Francis Hanna & Co Solicitors, spoke on domestic abuse in the context of divorce and and ancillary relief proceedings to legal pro

Northern Ireland firm Wilson Nesbitt has announced seven promotions following growth across its real estate and construction, banking and financials services, and individual and family life sectors. Leo Morrison has been promoted to senior associate. Working in the criminal defence team, he has exte

UK law firm Shoosmiths, which has an office in Belfast, is to begin imposing a £200 “levy” on lawyers who choose to travel for business by plane. The policy's aim is to encourage staff to reduce their carbon footprint in accordance with the firm's goal of achieving net zero emissio

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) referred four suspected miscarriages of justice to the Northern Ireland courts in the past year, according to its latest annual report. Established 25 years ago, the CCRC is the independent body responsible for investigating alleged miscarriages of justice

KRW LAW LLP has announced it will launch proceedings in Northern Ireland's High Court on behalf of a man who alleges he was sexually abused as a child by the late Lord Mountbatten. The firm is acting on behalf of Arthur Smyth, who alleges that he was sexually abused in the late 1970s during his stay

Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal has determined that the appropriate sentence for a violent repeat rapist was 18 years, with an additional five-year extended custodial sentence. In reaching this decision, the court was conscious of the violence of the attack, the appellant’s attempts t

The Law Society of Northern Ireland has helped to raise £18,000 for Leukaemia & Lymphoma NI, the only charity in Northern Ireland dedicated to blood cancer research. The money was raised through a series of events held throughout the year involving members of the legal profession.

Legislation reforming the committal process has been commenced in Northern Ireland. Preliminary investigations and mixed committals are abolished for all new cases brought forward from today, removing the need to give oral evidence at committal hearings in magistrates’ courts.

The Bar of Northern Ireland's football team has made a triumphant return from Newcastle upon Tyne after winning a challenge match against the North Eastern Circuit. Writing on LinkedIn, the Bar said: "A great match saw a final result of 6:2 for our team who proudly held on to their decade long unbea

Brexit has "threatened the common human rights space previously shared by all people on the island of Ireland", the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has said. The body — one of the two organs of the Council of Europe, with 306 members drawn from national European parliame

The Lady Chief Justice of Northern Ireland has said she "provided advice and guidance" to a Tyrone judge after his comments while sentencing a man for sexual assault "caused legitimate concern". Judge Brian Sherrard KC, sitting in Dungannon Crown Court, had told the 36-year-old defendant he was "sti

A member of the Northern Ireland Assembly has submitted a formal complaint to the Lady Chief Justice in connection with remarks made by a judge during a sexual assault hearing. The complaint centres on comments made by Judge Brian Sherrard KC in Dungannon Crown Court as he was sentencing a man who a

Maxine Orr has been appointed as vice-president of the Industrial Tribunals and Fair Employment Tribunal in Northern Ireland. Mrs Orr, who was appointed as an employment judge in 2018, was yesterday sworn into her new office before the Lady Chief Justice, Dame Siobhan Keegan.

Belfast-based Francis Hanna & Co Solicitors provided trauma informed training for its staff recently. The training was facilitated by Wave Trauma Centre and included the following:

The number of young Catholics in custody in Northern Ireland appears to be disproportionately high, new research suggests. A 32-page report produced by researchers at Queen's University Belfast for the Department of Justice notes that 63 per cent of children in custody in 2018/2019 self-identified a