News

The now 81-year-old daughter of influential English judge Lord Devlin has told an inquiry that she suffered sexual abuse at his hands throughout her childhood and adolescence. Clare Devlin spoke to The Observer over the weekend about her experience of her late father, who served on the High Court fr

Rumpole of the Bailey is to make a return – albeit in a very different form. The famous series is being revived three decades after Leo McKern's last closing speech at the Old Bailey. The series was created by Sir John Mortimer, whose daughter, Emily, is updating it for modern times.

A woman managed to dupe the legal profession into believing she was qualified to practise law for three years. Sessy Xavier, 27, from Kerala in India allegedly forged documents to join the Alappuzha Bar Association.

The Supreme Court has referred a case to the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) in which the appellants challenged the legal basis for their surrender to the UK on foot of a European arrest warrant. The appellants had claimed that the EAW system between Ireland and the UK was invalid beca

It is "plausible" that security services had "a real prospect of preventing the Omagh bombing", a High Court judge in Belfast has ruled. In a judgment delivered this morning, Mr Justice Mark Horner called for new Article 2-compliant investigations to take place on both sides of the border.

A 12-person programme board has been established to oversee the scrapping of direct provision. Today's announcement is in line with government plans to phase out the direct provision system of accommodation for asylum seekers by 2024, following its white paper set published earlier this year.

Legislation to enhance and update the legal framework for adoption will be introduced to the Northern Ireland Assembly after the summer recess. The Adoption and Children Bill aims to remove unnecessary delay and uncertainty for children by bringing Northern Ireland in line with the changes made in t

Forensic Science Ireland (FSI) has reported that it has made significant progress with the construction of its new laboratory, which is due to open in summer 2022. Minister for justice, Heather Humphreys, with director of FSI, Chris Enright, at the FSI’s new labs in Backweston, Dublin

The post-Brexit UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF) risks damaging trust between the UK and devolved administrations, according to a think tank. In a new report, the Institute for Government said that the UKSPF, which will replace EU ‘structural funds' and will be launched in April 2022, could a

Criminologist Phil Scraton, professor emeritus at Queen's University Belfast School of Law, has joined a distinguished team of patrons of Include Youth, a rights-based charity working with young people. The team of six patrons, which include some of Northern Ireland's top athletes, will work closely

Nearly half of state boards are falling short of a government target to have women making up at least 40 per cent of their membership. Public Expenditure and Reform Minister Michael McGrath updated ministers this week on progress to strengthen gender diversity on state boards across the Irish public

The latest edition of Folio, the conveyancing and land law journal from the Law Society of Northern Ireland, has been published. The first volume of 2021 includes pieces on drafting leases, the regulation of housing associations and issues affecting the agricultural property sector.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled that the pre-trial detention of a man suspected of belonging to a terrorist organisation in Turkey was a violation of his human rights under Article 5 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Tekin Akgün was suspected of b

The High Court has dismissed a personal injuries action in a trip-and-fall case on the basis that the plaintiff failed to look where he was walking at the time of the accident. The court applied cases such as Lavin v. Dublin Airport Authority [2016] IECA 268 and stated that the accident would not ha

The Central Bank has proposed a ban on the practice of "price walking" in the private car and home insurance sectors. The current practice is seen as a loyalty penalty for customers who do not regularly switch their insurance provider.