The European public can now easily look up lawyers in Northern Ireland through the European Commission’s e-Justice portal, the Law Society of Northern Ireland has announced.

The EU’s Find a Lawyer search engine, which is administered by the European Commission, links up electronic lawyer directories to allow users to search for lawyers in specific jurisdictions.

Although the search engine covers most of the EU and is available in all EU languages, the Law Society of Northern Ireland is only the second UK representative body to join the programme.

The Law Society of Scotland is participating, but the Law Society of Ireland and the Law Society of England and Wales are not.

Ian Huddleston, president of the Law Society of Northern Ireland, said: “We are delighted to have secured European Commission funding which has allowed us to build the Find a Lawyer search engine into our website.

“The e-Justice programme allows local solicitors to showcase their services to a European audience through a centralised website.

“It is also of practical benefit to the public who can seek an approved lawyer in other EU jurisdictions.”