News

Dechert has announced the appointment of Carol Widger as new managing partner of the global law firm's Dublin office. Ms Widger, a senior financial services specialist, brings expertise advising fund promoters, fund managers, AIFMs, and other firms providing services to investment funds.

The Government is set to present judges and the Courts Service with interim proposals to bring down personal injury awards, the Irish Independent reports. It comes amid concern that reform has been proceeding too slowly since the Personal Injuries Commission published its second and final report las

The State is to ask the Supreme Court to hear its appeal against a High Court ruling that sections of the Communications (Retention of Data) Act 2011 are inconsistent with EU law. Brian Murray SC, for the State, told Mr Justice Tony O'Connor it intends to apply to the top court to hear "a leapfrog a

An Irish father-of-one who claimed that his estranged Scottish wife had unlawfully retained their daughter in Scotland after the child underwent emergency cancer treatment there has had an application for a court order for the toddler’s return to Ireland dismissed. A judge in the Court of Sess

The Law Society of Ireland has paid out €240,000 to meet the liabilities of struck-off Co Carlow solicitor Imelda Leahy, The Irish Times reports. Ms Leahy, formerly practising as Imelda Leahy & Company Solicitors in Bagenalstown, was struck off in July after it was found she took over &euro

The Courts Service of Ireland has announced plans to centralise jury summons in order to improve the number of people showing up for jury duty, The Times reports. New figures reveal wide variations across the State in how many of the 11,000 people summoned for jury duty every month last year actuall

Penal reform campaigners have welcomed reports that plans for a 2,200-person "super-prison" in north Dublin have been abandoned. Deirdre Malone, executive director of the Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT), told Irish Legal News that the news "demonstrates positive progress in Irish penal policy over t

Professor Colin Harvey, professor of human rights law at QUB School of Law, reflects on the impact of Brexit on the discussion of Irish unity as the UK's exit from the European Union looms. The discussion of Irish unity is gaining momentum; Brexit has altered the nature of this conversation, as more

Lord Neuberger, former president of the UK Supreme Court, has said there is a "powerful argument" that the Brexit process cannot be halted without legislation. The retired judge presided over the court's ruling two years ago that Parliament had to approve the triggering of article 50 of the Treaty o

The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has called for a review of the Electoral Acts amid concerns that the legislation may be having a chilling effect on civil society organisations. In a policy statement, the Commission warned that the State "should avoid placing undue restrictions on wide

Master of the High Court, Edmund Honohan SC, had to break three window panes in the Four Courts with a hammer to dispel "a fug" in his courtroom, The Sunday Times reports. According to the newspaper, Mr Honohan took action after the Courts Service failed to respond to his complaints that the stuffin

House of Commons officials have fitted a tamper alarm to the bust of Oliver Cromwell in order to prevent Labour MP Stephen Pound from turning it to face the wall in protest of the military and political leader's record in Ireland. Mr Pound, the MP for Ealing North, has objected to the bust for a num

A bus company has been directed to reinstate a part-time school bus driver whose contract of employment was terminated in August 2017. The company accused the driver of stealing parts, however the driver maintained that he had permission to take the parts and did so openly.

Personal injury lawyers have hit back at the CEO of Allianz Ireland after he said half of the 1,500 claims the insurer challenged in the Irish courts last year were "potentially fraudulent". Jody Cantillon, partner in the litigation department at Cantillons Solicitors, told Irish Legal News that the

Chris Kinney, solicitor at Belfast-based Lacey Solicitors, has been elected chair of the Northern Ireland Young Solicitors Association (NIYSA) at its 2019 AGM.