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A senior barrister was forced to pick up the phone in front of three judges yesterday, as courts continue to adapt to the coronavirus pandemic with remote hearings. Michael Delaney SC was in the middle of making a complex legal argument before the “virtual” Court of Appeal when an office

Global legal business DWF Group plc, with offices in Belfast and Dublin, has announced that it has secured an in-principle agreement to increase its committed revolving credit facilities and a relaxation of certain covenants with its lenders. This agreement will result in a secondary RCF of £1

Barrister Emma McIlveen makes the case for Online Dispute Resolution as Northern Ireland deals with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. It goes without saying that we are in unprecedented times. Recent guidance from the President of the Tribunals in Northern Ireland has provided that employment dis

Lady Hale's memoirs are to be published next year and will detail how “a little girl from a little school in a little village in North Yorkshire became the most senior judge in the United Kingdom”. The first female president of the UK Supreme Court, who retired earlier this year, has sig

Irish barristers have joined legal colleagues around the world in condemning the arrests of lawyers and democracy activists in Hong Kong. The Council of The Bar of Ireland wrote to Hong Kong's chief executive Carrie Lam and to China's embassy in Ireland following the arrests of Martin Lee QC and Dr

A judge has ruled that a staggering €340,000 debt built up in three games of rock-paper-scissors is invalid. The debt had been recognised in a notarised contract and had led loser Edmund Mark Hooper to register a mortgage on his home.

The High Court has dismissed an action challenging the constitutionality of the procedures of the Workplace Relations Commission. Background

Remote courts technology "may or may not" suit cases where spoken or sign language interpreters are needed, the Courts Service has said. A pilot of remote hearings began in the Irish courts this week but the technology remains "very much in its infancy", a spokesperson told Irish Legal News.

Lawyers have called for Northern Ireland's planning system to "catch up" with the rest of the UK by introducing remote hearings during the coronavirus pandemic. The Planning Appeals Commission (PAC) has confirmed in a letter to the Northern Ireland Planning Bar Association (NIPBA) that it is "taking

The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted how "unsuitable and unsustainable" accommodation for asylum seekers in Ireland is, the Ombudsman has said. In his annual commentary on the Direct Provision system, Ombudsman Peter Tyndall repeated concerns over the suitability of accommodation, with three or

Remote courts technology is not ready for criminal trials with juries, the head of the Criminal Bar Association in England and Wales has said. After observing a mock remote jury trial, Caroline Goodwin QC concluded that "the technology is not there to deliver a safe and fair trial", The Times report

Belfast law graduate Aisha Rob has been awarded a prize for her LLM dissertation on how transitional justice can address statelessness. The annual dissertation prize is awarded by the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission for the highest LLM dissertation mark at Ulster University's Transitional J

Five thousand people who tested positive for COVID-19 after returning from the Austrian ski resort of Ischgl have registered for a class action lawsuit that claims the resort and Tyrol region put private gain before public health, The Irish Times reports.

A&L Goodbody senior associate Ciaran O'Shiel and solicitor Charlotte Turk explore a recent landmark ruling from the UK Supreme Court. On 1 April 2020 the Supreme Court handed down the eagerly awaited judgment in WM Morrison Supermarkets plc v Various Claimants [2020] UKSC 12.

Famous Irish sports star Conor McGregor has failed in a legal battle against a clothing company whose sportswear bears the same name. The 31-year-old MMA fighter applied to register his name as a trademark in order to sell clothing in Europe.