Coronavirus

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

Nearly a third of solicitor applications and nearly half of barrister applications to the legal aid agency's COVID-19 interim payment scheme have been rejected. The Legal Services Agency (LSA), which launched the scheme two weeks ago, has revealed it had received 818 requests by Friday 15 May.

Full court sittings will resume "as soon as tomorrow" with new safety measures, the Courts Service has indicated. Physical court sittings were yesterday limited to a maximum of two hours per day while clarification was sought on health advice given to the Oireachtas.

A criminal defence lawyer has sharply criticised safety measures at a specialist COVID-19 custody suite established by the PSNI in Belfast. The new "interview room with a perspex screen" at the Musgrave police station "is inadequate at best, and downright dangerous at worst", solicitor Joe Rice

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan has apologised to locals for the way in which the Direct Provision centre at the Skellig Star hotel in Cahersiveen was opened. Nearly 70 people seeking international protection were moved to the centre on 18 and 19 March from a hotel in Dublin where another guest su

PhD student Jane Mulcahy has defended her thesis on post-release supervision of long-sentence male prisoners in UCC School of Law's first-ever "virtual viva". Ms Mulcahy had to defend her thesis, Connected Corrections and Corrected Connections: post-release supervision of long sentence male prisoner

Physical court sittings have been limited to a maximum of two hours per day while the Courts Service seeks clarification on health advice given to the Oireachtas. The special committee on the COVID-19 response yesterday heard that spending two hours in an enclosed setting with someone who later deve

At least one Dublin law firm has reopened its city centre office as Irish law firms prepare to return to their physical workplaces under the five-phase government roadmap. M.P. Moloney Solicitors reopened its office at 1 Wellington Quay, Dublin 2 for client and notary public services yesterday,

Suggestions that ordinary criminal trials should take place without juries or with a smaller number of jurors during the COVID-19 emergency have been rejected by The Bar of Ireland. In a submission to the Courts Service, the barristers' body said the "draconian measure" of reducing the number of jur

Lawyers have experienced an increase in queries from employees who have been asked to return to work despite no change in public health guidance in Northern Ireland. Law Centre NI said recent statements by Prime Minister Boris Johnson had led to confusion in Northern Ireland, where advice for worker

Every criminal case brought under the Coronavirus Act 2020 in England and Wales has been scrapped because they were incorrectly charged. Following a review of more than 200 cases brought under coronavirus laws, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said all 44 cases brought under the 2020 Act were inc

Matheson will welcome dozens of newly-qualified solicitors and student interns this summer in spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, managing partner Michael Jackson has said. The firm has over 700 employees working from home and has been working hard to translate its in-person training and development pro

Lawyers for a number of families with relatives in care homes across Northern Ireland have called for a statutory inquiry into the rate of coronavirus deaths in care homes. Belfast firm KRW LAW LLP has written to Health Minister Robin Swann on behalf of families alarmed by alleged failures in terms

People fleeing domestic abuse will be able to access free public transport under plans being developed by the Departments of Justice and Infrastructure. Justice Minister Naomi Long and Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon agreed to work together to explore the idea after a meeting yesterday.

Immigration permissions due to expire between 20 May and 20 July 2020 will be automatically extended for two months, Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan has announced. The measure includes people in Ireland on short stay visas or awaiting first registration, as well as those whose permissions were alr