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Privacy rights campaigners have overwhelmed Ireland's data protection watchdog with calls for sweeping investigations of entire industries, Data Protection Commissioner Helen Dixon has said. Speaking to The New York Times, Ms Dixon suggested that many people had overestimated the impact of the EU Ge

The Northern Ireland Secretary is not required to publish a policy setting out the circumstances in which he would direct the holding of a border poll, the Court of Appeal in Belfast has ruled. Delivering the judgment, Lord Justice Stephens said the decision to hold a border poll involves "political

Blood donation rules in Northern Ireland are set to be brought in line with the rest of the UK from June. Men who have had sex with other men were barred from donating blood in Northern Ireland until 2016, when the lifetime ban was replaced with a 12-month deferral.

In his latest jurisprudential primer, Benjamin Bestgen explains why there is more to the concept of 'hard work' than meets the eye. See his last post here. The legal profession and many others are notorious for being associated with stressful work, tight deadlines and demanding unsociable, even unhe

Northern Ireland firm Cleaver Fulton Rankin has partnered with Bequeathed to bring its free will-writing service to Northern Ireland. The online service allows users to a create a simple will for free, but users requiring more detailed legal advice will be referred to the law firm at a fixed price.

Judicial review proceedings have been brought against the UK government for failing to have a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter on stage at its daily coronavirus briefings. Sheffield lawyer Chris Fry sent a pre-action protocol letter to the government at the end of March on behalf of an 85-yea

The state of Georgia cannot sue a charity for republishing an annotated version of its official legal code, the Supreme Court of the United States has narrowly ruled. The annotated code, produced by legal publisher LexisNexis, was only available for a fee until Public.Resource.Org republished it onl

The Supreme Court has dismissed an application to appeal of a man sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of murder and robbery in 1996. Mr Justice Peter Charleton held that the application brought by Anthony Buck, who was convicted of the murder and robbery of a 22-year-old man in

Legislation to create a new domestic abuse offence for Northern Ireland is being debated at the second stage in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Addressing a small number of MLAs in the chamber earlier this afternoon, Justice Minister Naomi Long said she was pleased to bring the bill forward, "even th

A significant "spike" in complaints to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) put the body under strain in 2019, according to its annual report. The WRC's adjudication service received 8,309 complaint applications in 2019, encompassing 20,939 individual complaints, the report states.

The PSNI's budget has fallen by more than £200 million in real terms over the past decade, according to a new report. Publishing his findings, Northern Ireland's Comptroller and Auditor General, Kieran Donnelly, said the PSNI had focused on "short-term cost reductions" which means the force "h

The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has written to the Garda Commissioner over the "wholly inappropriate" involvement of armed gardaí in the response to coronavirus. The group wrote to Garda Commissioner Drew Harris yesterday afternoon following reports from across the State about ar

A round-up of deals involving Irish law firms. Submit your deals to newsdesk@irishlegal.com. Arthur Cox Listing Services has acted as listing agent for Firmenich Productions Participations SAS on its inaugural €1.5 billion Eurobond.

Félim Ó Maolmhána examines, in response to an earlier Irish Legal News article, how many lawyers have served in the Oireachtas. I was struck by Mr Benjamin Bestgen’s piece, “The Ship of Fools” (8 April 2020) featured in this publication. Mr Bestgen makes some v

An emergency hardship fund has been established for barristers to support junior lawyers in financial distress as many do not qualify for the UK government's coronavirus support scheme. The Barristers’ Benevolent Association has created the fund and the four Inns of Court are making packages t