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Northern Ireland's most senior government lawyer, Hugh Widdis, has been appointed as permanent secretary of the Department of Justice. Mr Widdis is currently the head of the Government Legal Service for Northern Ireland and the Departmental Solicitor for the Northern Ireland Executive.

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) has welcomed the decision to give Julian Assange leave to appeal his extradition, handed down at the English High Court yesterday, subject to assurances from the US government that address their grounds of appeal. Michelle Stanistreet, NUJ general secreta

A wildlife rescue of a baby hedgehog turned out to be a hat bobble. The bobble was brought to the Lower Moss Nature Reserve and Wildlife Hospital by a concerned rescuer last week.

Barristers and solicitors will be able to form new 'legal partnerships' and provide legal services through them from later this year. The Legal Services Regulatory Authority (LSRA) today launched a month-long targeted consultation on the draft regulatory framework for the introduction of the new leg

Nearly half of Irish real estate experts expect commercial lease terms to become more flexible for both tenants and landlords, a new survey by Mason Hayes & Curran suggests. The business law firm surveyed more than 250 real estate professionals at a recent webinar on landlord and tenant legislat

Belfast solicitor Don Thompson is to take part in a 550-mile cycle from Stranraer to Kent to raise funds for brain tumour research charity Abbie's Army. Mr Thompson, a partner in commercial law firm McKees, will be joined by his 17-year-old son Josh and family friend Andy Gallagher on the fundraisin

An English solicitor representing victims of IRA bombings has been threatened with defamation proceedings over comments he made following a recent court decision. Matthew Jury, solicitor at McCue Jury & Partners LLP, is representing three IRA bombing victims in a civil claim which the English Hi

Tributes have been paid to retired Circuit Court judge John O'Hagan SC, who passed away on Saturday at the age of 76.

Florida has passed a new law that bans children under the age of 14 from having social media accounts in an attempt to shield minors from harmful content. The new law, which is one of the most restrictive in the US, will force social media companies to delete the accounts of children under 14 when i

Digital exam papers will be made available to Junior Certificate students with additional needs following a legal challenge taken by a student with a severe visual impairment, assisted by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. The rights body acknowledged the work of Community Law & Med

North Korea's state broadcaster has censored an old episode of an Alan Titchmarsh gardening show, blurring his blue jeans as a supposed symbol of western imperialism. Episodes of BBC series Garden Secrets have since 2022 been regularly broadcast in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), w

Mark Connaughton SC has been appointed as the independent chair of the new Paediatric Spinal Taskforce. The government has established the multi-stakeholder taskforce in a bid to cut waiting times for children who need spinal surgery.

The European Commission has launched investigations into Google owner Alphabet, Apple and Meta under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The non-compliance investigations announced yesterday will scrutinise Alphabet's rules on steering in Google Play and self-preferencing on Google Search, Apple's rules

Northern Ireland's justice minister has signed a pledge to uphold the rule of law in the face of public attacks on lawyers in the media and by politicians. Naomi Long is the first elected representative to sign the pledge, which is an initiative of the Law Society of Northern Ireland.

The Irish public is gaining a better understanding of sexual consent but further engagement is needed with certain groups, Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) has said. The charity today launched its third tranche of research focused on public understanding of sexual consent, as part of the organisatio