Northern Ireland

Cleaver Fulton Rankin associate director Brendan Martyn has been appointed as the Northern Ireland trustee of the UK Environmental Law Association (UKELA). Mr Martyn, elected at UKELA's AGM last week, will succeed CFR chairperson and director Karen Blair, who has served in the post for the maximum t

Children's rights expert Paddy Kelly has been appointed as the legally qualified commissioner to the Board of the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland (CCNI). Ms Kelly, a qualified barrister who also serves as director of the Children's Law Centre (CLC), has been appointed to the role for a five-

Northern Ireland's only remaining Victorian-era prison has reopened to visitors after a long period of closure during the Covid-19 pandemic.

A group of human rights NGOs, academics and lawyers has warned that new legacy proposals from the UK government "would breach both international law and the domestic Human Rights Act, deliver impunity, bury truth recovery and fundamentally undermine the rule of law". An open letter signed by 18 orga

Plans to establish a new joint "care and justice campus" for children and young people will go ahead after a consultation found broad support from the sector. More than 70 individuals and organisations responded to the consultation on proposals for a care and justice campus incorporating the existin

Rosemary Connolly, principal solicitor at Rosemary Connolly Solicitors, Employment and Equality Lawyers, examines a significant decision in a sex discrimination claim in England. The claimant in the Court of Appeal decision Steer v Stormsure Limited failed in an application for interim relief arisin

Mrs Justice Siobhan Keegan has been appointed as Lady Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, becoming the first woman ever to hold the highest judicial position in Northern Ireland. She will be sworn in as successor to the incumbent Lord Chief Justice, Sir Declan Morgan, at the start of September 2021 &

The Department for Infrastructure has confirmed it will not appeal a Court of Appeal ruling that it broke EU competition rules in the awarding of contracts for road resurfacing. Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon told MLAs yesterday that the Department had considered "whether parts of the judgme

Economy Minister Paul Frew was last night facing cross-party calls for parental bereavement leave and pay legislation to be extended to couples following a miscarriage. The Parental Bereavement (Leave and Pay) Bill yesterday cleared the second stage in Stormont unopposed and will now proceed to comm

A new online probate portal, which aims to simplify the application process for people dealing with a person’s estate after their death, has gone live. The Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunal Service (NICTS) developed the new online service as part of its modernisation programme and launched

Belfast-based Carson McDowell has announced the appointment of two new partners, bringing its partner headcount to 30 – the largest of any legal practice in Northern Ireland. Paul McGuickin has been promoted to partner in the firm's corporate team and Chris Phillips has been promoted to partne

Personal injury and road traffic accident specialist firm JMK Solicitors has partnered with New Driver to offer school pupils the chance to win a new car.

An internal review by the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) has concluded it was right not to charge politicians who attended the controversial funeral of republican Bobby Storey. The PPS initiated a review process after receiving three formal requests to re-examine decisions taken in relation to a g

Solicitors Dione Darragh and Jenny Ebbage have been appointed as trustees to the Halifax Foundation for Northern Ireland. Ms Darragh is a director in O'Reilly Stewart Solicitors, specialising in personal injury litigation, while Ms Ebbage is a partner at Edwards & Co Solicitors, specialising in

More than two-thirds of people are confident that Northern Ireland's prosecution service is fair and impartial, a new survey suggests. The latest Northern Ireland Life and Times (NILT) survey, published yesterday, found a slight year-on-year decline as 70 per cent of those questioned said they were