News

At least 13 people are thought to have taken their own lives as a result of the Post Office Horizon IT scandal, while at least 59 more contemplated suicide, according to the first report from the public inquiry into what has been described as the worst miscarriage of justice in UK legal history. The

Thousands of defendants in England and Wales could lose the automatic right to have their cases heard by a jury under sweeping reforms proposed by a senior judge aiming to ease a record court backlog. Sir Brian Leveson, the former Court of Appeal judge who led the government-commissioned review, has

The Department of Social Protection has launched High Court proceedings seeking to overturn a finding that it breached the GDPR in relation to the requirement for public services card (PSC) applicants to provide their biometric data. The Data Protection Commission (DPC) last month imposed an adminis

Seized criminal assets will be sold after just two years instead of seven years in a major reform of Ireland's civil asset forfeiture laws. The Proceedings of Crime and Related Matters Bill 2025 approved by ministers yesterday will make the most significant changes to proceeds of crime legislation s

Court of Appeal judge Mr Justice Michael MacGrath has been appointed to chair a new commission of investigation into historical sexual abuse in all day and boarding schools. The establishment of the commission of investigation follows a scoping inquiry which was told of 2,395 allegations of historic

A lawyer who left a hurried note on another lawyer's car after "dinging" it was entering into a binding contract to pay them, a tribunal has ruled. Carly Peddle wrote and left a note which read "I dinged your back passenger door / happy to pay for!" after accidentally denting Richard Brooks' car doo

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for the Taliban's supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, and chief justice, Abdul Hakim Haqqani. Judges yesterday said there were reasonable grounds to suspect both men have committed the crime against humanity of persecution on gend

Sean Gillane SC is to be appointed to the High Court and seven lawyers to the District Court in the first judicial appointments since the introduction of the new Judicial Appointments Commission.

Around one in four women in Irish prisons are Travellers and urgent action is needed to rectify the "completely untenable situation", prison reform campaigners have said. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) highlighted the "persistent over-representation" of T

Belfast firm Phoenix Law and a legal adviser with the Children's Law Centre in Northern Ireland were among winners at the 2025 Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year (LALY) awards in London. The Legal Aid Practitioners Group (LAPG) in England and Wales organises the annual awards ceremony, now in its 23rd yea

Specialist boutique employment law firm McInnes Dunne Murphy LLP has welcomed Feidhlim Mac Róibín as an associate. Mr Mac Róibín joins the firm from another boutique employment specialist firm, having previously trained and qualified in a top five firm.

Gemma McLoughlin-Burke BL and Seán Beatty BL have emerged as winners of the 2025 Adrian Hardiman Moot Competition.

Ferrari has lost a David and Goliath trademark battle with a small energy drinks company which it accused of infringing on its iconic prancing horse logo. The Italian luxury sports car maker took action in Malaysia against local drinks company Sunrise-Mark Sdn Bhd, which uses two prancing horses in

The Council of Europe's commissioner for human rights, Michael O'Flaherty, has urged the UK to ensure that the rights of trans people are being upheld as he expressed concern about the "current climate". In a statement following a recent visit to the UK, Mr O'Flaherty said trans people "constitute a

Ireland should vote again on replacing parts of the Constitution which include "gender stereotypes about women's roles in the home", a UN committee has recommended. The UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) today published the concluding observations of its eighth p