Connor Beaton

Ireland faces a looming disclosure crisis on par with jurisdictions like England and Wales due to the growing volume of digital evidence and limited resources, a leading criminal barrister has warned. Speaking yesterday at an Irish Legal News webinar on access to justice, Jane McGowan BL, outgoing c

Irish barrister Fergal Gaynor has been shortlisted as one of four candidates for election as the next prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The search for a successor to Gambian lawyer Fatou Bensouda, who has held the role since 2012 and will step down next June, began just over a ye

Up to four new High Court judges are being sought in Northern Ireland at a time when low pay, pension cuts and the increasingly demanding and unsociable nature of the job are driving a judicial recruitment crisis. The Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Commission (NIJAC) is currently advertising

Major Irish law firms including Matheson, William Fry and Eversheds Sutherland are continuing to make strategic hires and welcome newly-qualified solicitors, trainees and interns in spite of the COVID-19 crisis, Irish Legal News can reveal. Top-level hires completed in recent weeks have included con

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.

A criminal defence lawyer has acted remotely for a client in a police interview in a Northern Ireland first. A digital mechanism was put in place after Ciarán Kerr-Johnston, solicitor at Belfast-based Brentnall Legal Ltd, issued pre-action proceedings against the PSNI on behalf of a client wh

This week marks the 30th anniversary of the world’s largest unsolved art theft, in which 13 pieces worth around $500 million, including paintings by famous artists such as Rembrandt, Vermeer, Degas and Manet, were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

A further delay to a long-awaited review into the care of vulnerable people in Northern Ireland's prisons has been condemned as "unacceptable". Justice Minister Naomi Long yesterday admitted that the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) had been "unable" to complete the review by Marc

There remains an opportunity for Northern Ireland to take forward long-awaited domestic abuse reforms after a Westminster setback by working to restore devolution, former justice minister Claire Sugden has told Irish Legal News. The UK Government announced earlier this summer that its Domestic Abuse

Plans to double processing fees for claims submitted to the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (PIAB) by post have come under fire from solicitors. The processing fee for claim application forms submitted by post or email is set to increase to €90 from 1 September 2019, but will stay at €4

The Bar of Ireland will more closely monitor the level of unpaid fees owed to junior barristers under the "antiquated" District Court legal aid scheme following a unanimous decision of the Bar AGM. Under a revised Code of Conduct, barristers will be required to submit details of outstanding fees owe

For the last four years, the dome of the Four Courts in the heart of Dublin's legal quarter has been obscured by scaffolding, a bleak reminder of the damage it sustained in the opening salvo of the Irish Civil War nearly a century ago. Though most lawyers have seen first-hand the building's enduring