Opinion

In the first of his 'neurolaw' articles, Benjamin Bestgen looks at how the law might accommodate advances in cognitive technology. See his last jurisprudential primer here.  Humans are capable of fascinating feats of observation, empathy and intuition but we cannot read other people’s tho

Leo Moore, partner at William Fry, examines a recent High Court decision and the potential implications for IP rights in sport. A live blocking injunction involves Internet Service Providers (ISPs) identifying and blocking illegal streams for the period of a Premier League football match. The list o

Ailbhe Dennehy, partner at William Fry, considers a significant High Court ruling concerning an employee dismissed during probation. Traditionally, dismissals during probation have been considered relatively low risk by employers since the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) requires employees to h

Benjamin Bestgen discusses the death penalty in this week's jurisprudential primer. See his last one here. A few weeks ago an acquaintance (let’s call her Lea) witnessed an incident where teenagers had assaulted elderly people by deliberately coughing and spitting on them and yelling “CO

Ronan Daly Jermyn partner Darryl Broderick and trainee solicitor Therese Collins review a significant reduction in an award made by a jury to a plaintiff in High Court defamation proceedings where an “offer of amends” had been made. The Court of Appeal recently significantly reduced

Employment law solicitor Richard Grogan of Richard Grogan & Associates examines a recent case concerning collective redundancies. With COVID-19 and its effects, there are going to be situations where contracts of employment are changed. This may be the way employees work or a reduction in salary

Donald Trump sank to new depths last week, if that is possible, with the pardoning of his long-time pal and master of the black arts Roger Stone. It is an act which has nauseated even some leading members of the Republican Party. In its editorial on Saturday, which we reprint below, The Washington P

Ronan Daly Jermyn partner Padraic Brennan and trainee solicitor Thomas McInerney review a recent High Court decision on professional negligence. A recent decision of the High Court serves as a reminder of the continuing relevance of the Supreme Court decision in Cooke v Cronin [1999] IESC 54, and th

In part two of his primer on lie-detection, Benjamin Bestgen tells us what actually works. See part one here. Psychologist Aldert Vrij, a specialist on lies and deceit, identifies viable lie detection options which do not involve technology, torture or chemicals. Looking at lying clinically, he find

Lisa Bryson, partner and head of employment at Eversheds Sutherland in Belfast, considers the impact of COVID-19 on businesses in Northern Ireland. In some ways, it seems that the introduction of the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme or the ‘Furlough’ scheme as its more commonly referred

Ireland's first academic research centre dedicated to research, policy and education on corruption and anti-corruption has been established at Dublin City University (DCU). The new Anti-Corruption Research Centre (ARC) is co-directed by Dr Michael Breen of DCU's School of Law and Dr Rob Gillanders o

The long-awaited UK Supreme Court judgment in Villiers v Villiers [2020] UKSC 30 has been handed down this morning. Scottish lawyer Rachael Kelsey has acted for the successful respondent, Mrs Villiers, since 2014 and gives a short summary of the 74-page decision. What was it about?

Benjamin Bestgen gives us the truth about methods of lie detection. See his last jurisprudential primer here. Last month, I sketched out some definition problems we encounter when considering what a lie is. I also noted that humans are bad lie detectors. Research tells us that even supposed experts

Alan Desmond, law lecturer at the University of Leicester, considers whether African-Americans could come to Ireland as refugees. Recent months have seen a growing international focus on use of excessive force against African-Americans by police in the US. The killing of George Floyd, in particular,

DWF associate Alison Martin and trainee solicitor Thomas Bulfin examine a recent case involving an employer with a mandatory retirement age. In the recent Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) case of Joseph McGrath v Focus Ireland ADJ-00018823, the adjudication officer considered the issue of object