Northern Ireland

Global law firm Kennedys has announced the appointment of its first-ever legal directors in Dublin and Belfast as part of a record promotions round. Dublin lawyer Martina O'Mahoney and Belfast-based Frances Thompson and Megan Boyd have been appointed as legal directors, a new role which aims to reco

Belfast solicitor Claire O'Mahony has passed away a year after her retirement from practice. Ms O'Mahony, who headed the wills and probate department at Boyd Rice Solicitors, passed away peacefully at Marie Curie on Friday 3 September.

Northern Ireland solicitor Diarmuid Devlin has been appointed as a partner at London law firm Taylor Rose MW. Mr Devlin joined McMillan Williams Solicitors, which eventually became Taylor Rose MW, in 2017 a year after relocating to London from Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland's Court of Appeal has refused a renewed application for leave to issue judicial review proceedings against prime minister Boris Johnson for allegedly signing the Brexit deal and the Northern Ireland Protocol with no intention of adhering to it. Handing down judgment on behalf of a t

Dame Siobhan Keegan has been sworn into office as Lady Chief Justice of Northern Ireland at a ceremony in the Royal Courts of Justice. The first woman to hold Northern Ireland's top judicial post, Dame Siobhan was sworn into office in the Nisi Prius court in front of a small group of family and frie

A review of policing in South Armagh has recommended closer collaboration between the PSNI and An Garda Síochána.

Belfast law firm McKees has announced the appointment of PIPS as its new charity partner. PIPS is a community-based charity that delivers suicide prevention and bereavement support services, counselling and therapies throughout Northern Ireland. Almost 12,000 people accessed the services between 202

Private renters in Northern Ireland will be protected from eviction until May 2022 following an extension of Covid-19 laws. The Private Tenancies (Coronavirus Modifications) Act requires landlords to give tenants a 12-week notice to quit period before seeking a court order to begin proceedings to ev

Northern Ireland's legacy pension scheme for victims of the Troubles has opened for applications from today. The scheme, officially known as the "victims' payments scheme for permanent disablement", is designed to recognise and acknowledge the harm suffered and to promote reconciliation, as well as

A public inquiry into the work of a Southern Trust urologist, to be chaired by Christine Smith QC, will begin next week. The inquiry, which will be set up on 6 September 2021, will make history as the first public inquiry in Northern Ireland to be chaired by a woman.

Matthew Howse, partner at Eversheds Sutherland in Belfast, examines why landowners and tenants are bringing more litigation involving 4G masts. A recent announcement by three mobile telephone networks that they have agreed a deal to build and share masts in order to improve 4G coverage in rural Nort

An investigation will take place following the death of a prisoner at HMP Maghaberry. The death, which took place on Saturday 28 August, is "not being treated as Covid-related", the Northern Ireland Prison Service said.

Dozens of survivors of historical institutional abuse (HIA) in Northern Ireland will receive more than £100,000 in total after their personal information was exposed in a data breach. An email newsletter circulated by the HIA Interim Advocate's Office last May inadvertently revealed the names

Les Allamby, the outgoing chief commissioner of the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC), reflects on the human rights landscape in Northern Ireland ahead of the end of his term early next week. Human rights remains a contested space, both publicly and politically. Nonetheless, as I refl

A court ruling that a 16-year-old transgender girl does not require court permission to access hormone blockers will "bring comfort" to other young trans people in Northern Ireland, a solicitor has said. In a judgment handed down in May and published earlier this month, Mrs Justice Siobhan Keegan sa