Appointments

Moira Smyth QC is the new chair of the Bar of Northern Ireland, beginning a two-year term ahead of the start of the new legal year next week. Ms Smyth, who succeeds Bernard Brady QC, was called to the Bar in 1996 and took silk in 2014. Most of her work as a barrister is in the field of family law.

Belfast law firm Millar McCall Wylie (MMW) has brought four new trainee solicitors on board. Cathy Kerr will join MMW’s banking and finance team from Queens University Belfast; Patrick Boyle joins the firm’s litigation department from Ulster University; the corporate law team welcomes Mo

More than a dozen people have been appointed to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) as adjudication officers. Following two open competitions in 2021, a total of 14 individuals were appointed as adjudicators in July 2022, a spokesperson for the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment tol

Professor Ursula Kilkelly, one of Ireland's leading scholars on children's rights, will take up a visiting position at Leiden Law School in the 2022/2023 academic year, the university has announced. Professor Kilkelly, a professor of law at University College Cork, will serve as rotating honorary ch

Justin Kouame, former chair of the Northern Ireland Community of Refugees and Asylum Seekers, has been appointed to the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC). Mr Kouame, who is also a former member of the Northern Ireland Race Equality Sub-Group and Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Min

Kevin O'Brien, former chair of ComReg, has been appointed as a member of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC). Mr O'Brien has more than two decades' experience in senior regulatory and public policy roles in Ireland and abroad. Before joining the CCPC, he was head of consumer po

Cork-based commercial law firm J.W. O'Donovan LLP Solicitors has announced the appointment of Michelle Cross, Patricia Canty and Daphne Madden as associate solicitors. Ms Cross joins the firm's corporate and commercial department, having completed her training contract with the firm after previously

Climate law expert Dr Orla Kelleher has joined Maynooth University as an assistant professor in law. A specialist in in climate change, environmental and human rights law, Dr Kelleher's current research focuses on environmental rights, climate litigation, climate justice and just transitions.

Conleth Bradley SC will lead the first part of an urgent review of An Bord Pleanála, the Office of the Planning Regulator (OPR) has announced. The OPR has initiated a review of certain systems and procedures used by An Bord Pleanála in the delivery of its statutory planning functions.

Matheson has announced the appointment of Inari Friedmann as a legal solutions assistant in its digital services group. According to the firm, Ms Friedmann, who has an LLB and LLM from Trinity College Dublin, is Ireland's first-ever dedicated innovation and legal technology graduate employee.

Gary Lee, the former head of Ballymun Community Law Centre, has joined the Office of the General Solicitor for Minors and Wards of Court. Mr Lee joins the office as a solicitor weeks after he announced his departure as managing solicitor of the law centre.

Belfast-based Cleaver Fulton Rankin has welcomed four new trainee solicitors. The new trainees are Anna Friel and Adele Patterson, both graduates of Queen’s University Belfast; Cara Smart, a graduate of Ulster University; and Edward Bergin, a graduate of Trinity College Dublin.

Solicitor Siobhan Moloney has been appointed as chair of GemCap Investment Funds Plc. Ms Moloney is dual-qualified as a solicitor in Ireland and in England and Wales. She holds a bachelor of civil law from UCD as well as a diploma in applied finance law from the Law Society.

Belfast-based Mills Selig has announced the expansion of its climate and energy team with the recruitment of Aveen McGahon as a solicitor upon her qualification in September. The team, led by partners Anna-Marie McAlinden and Glenn Watterson, has enjoyed a prolific year, working on transactions tota

P.A. Duffy & Co has announced the appointment of Sean Kelly as its new finance and marketing manager. Bringing more than 25 years' experience as a finance manager in the legal industry, Mr Kelly will manage all financial aspects of the all-Ireland law firm while enhancing its financial controls