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Matheson LLP has appointed David Fitzgibbon and Darren Maher as co-heads of its corporate team and Sally Anne Stone as head of its commercial real estate group. In addition to jointly running the corporate group, Mr Fitzgibbon has also taken on the role of head of corporate M&A and Mr Maher has

Department store John Lewis has succeeded in a court battle with an author who claimed that the retailer had copied one of her designs for its Christmas advert. The retailer's 2019 advert featured a friendly green dragon named Excitable Edgar.

A conspiracy theorist who claimed the Manchester Arena bombing was staged is facing legal proceedings brought by survivors of the 2017 atrocity. Martin Hibbert and his daughter Eve are seeking an injunction and damages amid claims that Richard D. Hall defamed and harassed them, The Guardian reports.

Tralee solicitor Pa Daly has been appointed as Sinn Féin's justice spokesperson. Mr Daly, who has served as TD for Kerry since the 2020 general election, has been promoted in a frontbench reshuffle in anticipation of the next election, which will take place within the next two years.

Professor Imelda Maher of UCD Sutherland School of Law has been appointed as senior vice-president of the Royal Irish Academy (RIA). The RIA is Ireland's leading body of experts in the sciences and humanities and membership is considered the highest academic honour in Ireland.

The Attorney General for Northern Ireland has directed a fresh inquest into the death of Thomas Burns, who was shot and killed by British soldiers in July 1972. Mr Burns, a 10-year veteran of the British Navy who served in Malta and Singapore, was shot outside the Glen Park Social Club in north Belf

Efforts by businesses to combat modern-day slavery are stagnating, according to an analysis of UK government data by The Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS), with the number of modern slavery statements submitted to the government registry for 2022 trailing markedly.

The Women Against State Pension Inequality (WASPI) campaign has scored a major victory in its fight to win compensation for 1950s-born women affected by short notice changes to their state pension age. The group launched a judicial review in the English High Court earlier this year — raising &

The Supreme Court has upheld a challenge to the constitutionality of the laws governing elections for Seanad University Panels. The legal proceedings were brought by a graduate of the University of Limerick who claimed that the Oireachtas had failed to meet a constitutional obligation to extend the

Albania has accused UK authorities of persecuting one of the country's nationals who was detained on suspicion of dealing cannabis — which turned out to be harmless tea leaves. Agim Agaj, 53, was arrested, strip-searched and detained for 15 hours after police in Dorset stopped his van and spot

Brexit has not had a negative impact on the services sectors in Ireland, the UK and the larger EU economies, a webinar hosted by Matheson LLP has heard. Dan O'Brien, chief economist at the Institute for International and European Affairs (IIEA), spoke on the "Brexit Revisited: London Calling" webina

Louth transition year student Saorla McDonagh Sharkey has been named winner of the Law Society of Ireland's inaugural National Gráinne O’Neill Memorial Legal Essay Competition. The competition invited 1,500-word essays on the topic "The law and social media: striking a balance between f

A citizens' assembly established by the French government has recommended the legalisation of euthanasia and assisted dying. The Citizens' Convention on the End of Life, made up of 184 citizens randomly selected to form a representative selection of French society, submitted its final report to Pres

ChatGPT, the advanced AI-powered chatbot which has taken the world by storm, has been banned in Italy on the orders of the country's data protection authority. In a statement issued on Friday, Italian regulator Garante Privacy said ChatGPT's US operator OpenAI was not transparent about its collectio

A man has been indicted for licking a soy sauce bottle as part of a wave of 'sushi terrorism' plaguing Japan. Ryoga Yoshino, 21 was arrested after an incident at a Kura Sushi branch in Nagoya City last month.