News

Sara Phelan SC has been re-elected as chair of the Bar Council of Ireland for the 2023/24 legal year. She took up the role in 2022, becoming the third woman to ever serve as Bar Council chairperson, and has been re-elected for a second year in line with convention.

At least 4,400 people were unable to get through to FLAC's telephone line in 2022 due to overwhelming demand, the independent legal, equality and human rights organisation's latest annual report reveals. Mr Justice Frank Clarke, the former Chief Justice and chair of the civil legal aid review group,

The Law Society of Northern Ireland has said it will host a major conference later this year to help the profession respond to the controversial Troubles bill expected to soon become law. The Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill is opposed by every political party in the Northe

The Law Society of Northern Ireland has congratulated local solicitor Rory McShane for 50 years in practice. A former president, treasurer and Council member of the Law Society, he established his firm McShanes in 1973 in Newry, providing legal services and support to clients across Northern Ireland

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled that Igor Tuleya, a prominent Polish judge critical of the country's government, suffered "multiple violations" of his rights to a fair trial, respect for private life and freedom of expression. The Strasbourg court has instructed Poland to award

A judge in Canada has ruled that the "thumbs-up" emoji is as legally binding as a traditional signature in a judgment that ordered a farmer to pay damages for breach of contract. A court in Saskatchewan heard that a grain buyer had broadcast a text message to clients in 2021, expressing his interest

International law firm Simmons & Simmons has promoted five associates in Dublin. Grace Lumsden and James Cullinane have been promoted to managing associate in the firm’s investment funds group.

A man caught on video scratching his and his girlfriend's name into the Colosseum has told prosecutors he had no idea how old it was. Bristol man Ivan Danailov Dimitrov, 27, etched "Ivan + Hayley 23" into one of the walls of the nearly 2,000-year-old monument using a key, the BBC reports.

A round-up of human rights stories from around the world. Attackers break Russian journalist’s fingers and stab human rights lawyer in Chechnya | The Guardian

Proposed new garda powers to track vehicles using automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) technology should be subject to judicial oversight, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) and Digital Rights Ireland have said. The NGOs have sent legislators a list of proposed amendments to the An Ga

Meta's new social media app Threads, widely seen as a rival to Twitter, has been launched in the US and the UK but is not yet available in Ireland or the rest of the EU due to regulatory concerns. Threads, a text-based spin-off from Instagram, is now available in more than 100 countries — but

Three in 10 employers do not have a flexible working policy in place, and more than a quarter do not have a remote working policy, according to a recent survey of HR professionals by Mason Hayes & Curran LLP. The business law firm surveyed more than 500 attendees, working across the public and p

Solicitor and mediator Bill Holohan SC has been presented with a certificate of appreciation by the Indian Ambassador to Ireland, Akhilesh Mishra. Mr Holohan received the certificate following an event on mediation and alternative dispute resolution, hosted by the Indian Embassy as part of the India

A judge who posted TikTok videos lip-syncing to rap songs with explicit lyrics while wearing his judicial robes is facing disciplinary action. Judge Gary N. Wilcox, a criminal judge in New Jersey, USA, posted around 40 videos under the alias "Sal Tortorella" over a two-year period from 2021 to 2023,

An "ambitious" target to make 1,000 initial asylum decisions per month by next spring is at the centre of new government plans to modernise Ireland's international protection system. The International Protection Modernisation Programme 2023–2024, published by justice minister Helen McEntee yes