News

A proposed new scale of fees for environmental judicial reviews has gone out for consultation. Climate, energy and environment minister Darragh O'Brien said he expected to hear "strong and divergent views" on the scale of fees, which has been proposed under the Planning and Development Act 2024.

Northern Ireland firm Davidson McDonnell has doubled the size of its corporate team after welcoming five new members this year. The commercial law firm, which recently marked 10 years since its foundation in Belfast, now has a 10-strong team specialising in corporate transactions.

Former Arthur Cox partner Niav O'Higgins has passed away. Ms O'Higgins spent two decades with Arthur Cox and led the firm's construction and engineering group until her retirement in July 2024, after which she continued to work as an adjudicator in construction disputes.

Juries are to be scrapped in trials where defendants face up to three years' imprisonment in England and Wales. The UK government has confirmed its plans to introduce what it calls "Canadian-style juryless trials", claiming they will help to cut delays in criminal justice system — which lawyer

John O'Kelly has been elected as chairperson of the Belfast Solicitors' Association (BSA). Mr O'Kelly, a partner in Belfast-based HHD Solicitors, was elected at yesterday's BSA AGM to succeed outgoing chairperson Robert Croskery.

Will Carmody has been re-elected as managing partner of Mason Hayes & Curran for a second term. Mr Carmody took the reins in January 2023 after over 20 years with the business law firm, at the time leading its financial services practice.

Ireland's media regulator has launched formal investigations into TikTok and LinkedIn amid concerns that their processes for reporting suspected illegal content fall short of EU legal requirements. Coimisiún na Meán's investigations team will assess whether the two platforms have contr

Human rights lawyer Noeline Blackwell has been appointed as an expert adviser to Fiosrú, the Office of the Police Ombudsman. The former CEO of Dublin Rape Crisis Centre will assist the watchdog as an expert adviser on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence.

A trio of "rebel nuns" who refused to retire and broke into their old convent have been temporarily granted permission to stay there. The three octogenarians made global headlines after fleeing a Catholic care home earlier this year to return to their abandoned convent in central Austria.

Northern Ireland firm Allsopp Campbell Rainey has appointed Carla Fraser as partner and head of family law. Ms Fraser brings with her more than a decade of specialist experience across complex matrimonial, divorce, and Children NI Order matters, including high-profile and sensitive cases.

Renowned human rights lawyer and academic Professor Colm Ó Cinnéide will deliver FLAC's annual justice lecture next week. This year's event celebrates the 250th anniversary of the birth of Daniel O'Connell and will include a reading from his speeches by actor Stephen Rea.

Carlow woman Eileen O'Leary, well known for working alongside the late solicitor Ronald J. Clery, has celebrated her 100th birthday.

Experts have sounded the alarm on conditions in Irish prisons, warning that overcrowding due to record prisoner numbers is leading to "a crisis the likes of which we have never experienced". The Irish Penal Reform Trust (IPRT) today launched its latest annual Progress in the Penal System report, whi

A new online portal has been launched to support and facilitate employers’ engagement with MyFutureFund, the new automatic retirement savings scheme. The MyFutureFund Employer Portal provides employers with the platform to complete their profile and choose a payment method in advance of the st

A new report from Westminster MPs makes recommendations based on an "inaccurate understanding" of the new joint framework on legacy issues, the Irish government has said. The Northern Ireland affairs committee (NIAC) this week published a report on the UK government's Northern Ireland Troubles Bill.