News

Hundreds of people in Northern Ireland renounced their British citizenship from 2012 to 2020 to take advantage of more favourable family migration rules for those with only Irish citizenship, data suggests. Figures published by investigative news and analysis website The Detail show a dramatic incre

A commencement order has been signed to bring legislation providing a legal definition of bullying and requiring schools to record incidents of bullying into effect in September. The Addressing Bullying in Schools Act (NI) 2016, which was passed with the support of all political parties, will commen

Wine tasters have pleaded with the French government to be vaccinated against Covid-19 as a priority. The Union of France Oenologists has written to the French prime minister to ask for wine tasters to move up the vaccination queue, The Telegraph reports.

Advocate-General Gerard Hogan has been nominated for appointment as a Supreme Court judge. The former High Court and Court of Appeal judge has served on the European Court of Justice (ECJ) since 2018.

Ministers have agreed in principle to appoint five additional judges to the High Court in order to help clear the Covid-19 backlog of cases. The move will require legislation as the number of High Court judges is set out in law. It is not yet clear whether the additional judges will be temporary or

The Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland has been appointed to the advisory body which will help to select the next Chief Justice of Ireland. Sir Declan Morgan will be the judicial member on the three-person non-statutory advisory committee established by ministers to help find a successor to Chie

Belfast solicitor Brian Speers has been appointed as chair of the new Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) ethics commission. Following on from the adoption of a comprehensive code of ethics and conduct, the ethics commission is a completely independent body tasked with maintaining the highest standa

Ireland's coronial system is "not fit for purpose" and root-and-branch reform is decades overdue, according to a damning new report. Professor Phil Scraton and Dr Gillian McNaull, both of Queen's University Belfast, have made more than 50 recommendations for reform following research based on interv

A Circuit Court judge has said he will start handing down indicative sentences which will be formally given at a later date due to ongoing industrial action by prison officers. A number of sentences due to be dealt with at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court yesterday morning had to be adjourned after pri

The Criminal Injuries Compensation Tribunal will double in size as part of landmark reforms aimed at better serving victims of violent crimes. The Criminal Injuries Compensation Scheme was introduced in 1974 and has only been revised once, in 1986. The new changes have been described as a "first ste

Ticket touts and those reselling tickets for large events above face value will face fines of up to €10,000 or up to two years in prison under proposed new legislation. The Sale of Tickets (Cultural, Entertainment, Recreational and Sporting Events) Bill 2021 could become law as early as June to

Legislation to ban so-called conversion therapy in Northern Ireland will be brought to Stormont "as soon as possible", Communities Minister Deirdre Hargey has said. The Northern Ireland Assembly yesterday voted 59-24 in favour of a motion rejecting the "harmful practice" and calling for legislation

UK businesses have avoided using litigation to resolve commercial disputes during the Covid-19 pandemic, instead turning to negotiation and mediation, according to new research by EY. The research suggests that UK companies have heeded official guidance, released by the Cabinet Office in May 2020, w

Benjamin Bestgen this week encourages lawyers to consider the craft of writing. See his last jurisprudential primer here. George Orwell opined in 1946 that written English “is full of bad habits which spread by imitation and which can be avoided if one is willing to take the necessary trouble&

Plans to limit the number of tourists visiting the famous Romeo and Juliet balcony in Verona have been blocked by a court. The city's mayor proposed installing turnstiles at the tiny courtyard where tourists congregate to take photos of the balcony after heightened fears of overcrowding with Covid-1