Judicial Appointments

Judge Geoffrey Miller QC has been appointed as County Court commissioner in the Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Commission (NIJAC). He was appointed by First Minister Arlene Foster and deputy First Minister Michelle O'Neill for a five-year term until 11 August 2025.

Ms Justice Teresa Pilkington has been nominated for appointment as an ordinary judge of the Court of Appeal. She has served as a High Court judge since 2018, having previously practised as a barrister in civil law cases.

The former Attorney General of Ireland, Séamus Woulfe SC, has been nominated by ministers for appointment to the Supreme Court. Mr Woulfe, who served as Attorney General until the new government was formed last month, will fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Ms Justice Mary Finlay G

The Law Society of Northern Ireland has written to solicitors to urge them to apply for two vacant positions on the High Court. Rowan White, president of the Law Society, said the appointment of Mr Justice Ian Huddleston in January 2019 "clearly demonstrates" that court advocacy "is not an essential

Ms Justice Mary Irvine has taken up her new role as president of the High Court after making her constitutional declaration in a small ceremony overseen by Chief Justice Frank Clarke. "These occasions are normally marked by a very large gathering of the colleagues, family and friends of the judge wh

Up to four new High Court judges are being sought in Northern Ireland at a time when low pay, pension cuts and the increasingly demanding and unsociable nature of the job are driving a judicial recruitment crisis. The Northern Ireland Judicial Appointments Commission (NIJAC) is currently advertising

Ms Justice Mary Irvine of the Supreme Court has been nominated by government ministers as the next president of the High Court. The Law Society of Ireland and the King's Inns have congratulated her on her nomination to become the first woman to serve as president of the court.

Sir Declan Morgan, the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, has been ruled out as a candidate for the UK Supreme Court seat to be vacated by Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore on his retirement in September. Lord Kerr is the only justice with knowledge of and experience of practice in the law of Northern Ir

Lord Justice Leggatt (Sir George Leggatt) will be sworn in as justice of the UK Supreme Court in a closed ceremony next Tuesday. The Constitutional Reform Act 2005, which established the Supreme Court, requires that appointees take the required oaths in the presence of the president of the court.

The independent TD who was widely seen as driving the outgoing government's commitment to reforming the judicial appointments system has lost his seat in Saturday's election. Shane Ross, a TD since 2011, first for Dublin South and latterly for Dublin Rathdown, served as transport minister under Taoi

Northern Ireland's Attorney General John Larkin QC has been sworn in as a temporary High Court judge. The appointment follows that of six other barristers who have taken up positions on the bench while continuing their work at the Bar.

Five senior Northern Ireland barristers have taken up office as temporary High Court judges as of today. Bar of Northern Ireland members David Scoffield QC, Stephen Shaw QC, Michael Humphreys QC, Karen Quinlivan QC and Gerald Simpson QC have been sworn in, as well as Daniel Friedman QC.

A record 320 bills, including the controversial bill to reform the judicial appointments process, are expected to lapse when the Dáil is dissolved for the election next month. The majority of the bills expected to fall were introduced by backbench TDs, who had more opportunities to introduce

Ireland's judge at the European Court of Human Rights has been elected as one of five section presidents. Síofra O'Leary began her two-year term as head of the court's fifth section at the start of the year.

Lord Reed has been installed as the new President of the UK Supreme Court. The Scottish judge was sworn in at a ceremony in London this morning, where he was “especially pleased to see here so many of my former colleagues of the Scottish bench and bar”.