Northern Ireland

Michael Humphreys QC has been sworn into office as a High Court judge in Northern Ireland. Mr Justice Humphreys graduated from Oxford University in 1993 and was called to The Bar of Northern Ireland in 1994. He took silk in 2011.

Employment solicitor Leanne McKeown of Rosemary Connolly Employment & Equality Solicitors highlights a recent ruling from Great Britain which Northern Ireland employers should note. The recent GB case of Allay (UK) Ltd v Mr S Gehlen (2021) demonstrates the continuing duty on employers to review

A new temporary body has been established to enforce environmental law in England and Northern Ireland following Brexit. The Interim Environmental Governance Secretariat (IEGS) has been established in response to the European Commission no longer having an environmental oversight role after the UK's

A Belfast-based member of the UK Labour Party has launched legal proceedings over the party's refusal to stand election candidates in Northern Ireland. Keith Gray, who wants to be a Labour candidate, has instructed KRW LAW LLP to challenge the party's long-standing position of only running in Great

Complainants in sexual offence cases in Northern Ireland will have access to fully qualified sexual offences legal advisors (SOLAs) from April, Justice Minister Naomi Long has confirmed. The pilot scheme fulfils one of the recommendations of retired Court of Appeal judge Sir John Gillen's high-profi

Northern Ireland firm MKB Law has unveiled a new brand identity and website as part of its ongoing business development plans. The firm has grown to 35 staff members and offers services in all areas of law, with a particular focus on corporate, property, dispute resolution, debt recovery, employment

Justice Minister Naomi Long will next week meet with the family of an 18-year-old student killed by a drunk driver to discuss the initial findings of a major sentencing review. The family of Enda Dolan, who was killed in October 2014, have called for tougher sentences for drunk drivers ever since Da

Attorney General Brenda King has ordered a fresh inquest into the shooting of six Catholic men in the New Lodge area of north Belfast in February 1973. The British Army initially said all six men had been shot by soldiers, but later said it appeared that loyalist paramilitaries were responsible for

A growing backlog in Northern Ireland's employment tribunals is creating an access to justice crisis, lawyers have warned. Killymeal House, the home of the Industrial Tribunals and the Fair Employment Tribunal, is currently "closed until further notice".

The Court of Appeal in Northern Ireland has dismissed the appeal of a man who tried to exclude a child rape acquittal from his Enhanced Criminal Record Certificate. The man, known as KC, applied to take up positions as a childcare assistant in a school and as a volunteer in a community organisation,

There has been a 48 per cent rise in the number of people awaiting trial since the first lockdown last March, the Belfast Telegraph reports. The backlog includes 23 murder and 36 rape cases and has been described as “wholly unacceptable” by the chair of Stormont’s Justice Committee

Stormont's Executive Office is under a legal obligation to fund a pension for people who suffered severe injuries in the Troubles, the Court of Appeal has ruled. The scheme opens for applications in March but it is not yet clear who will fund the payments, as Stormont and Westminster have been engag

An additional courtroom will become available for Crown Court trials in the Laganside Courts this week as the Northern Ireland Courts and Tribunals Service (NICTS) tries to boost capacity in the face of a growing trials backlog. Two courtrooms in the complex are being modified to allow for trials to

Northern Ireland's police watchdog has launched an investigation after an "altercation" involving an arrest at a memorial marking the 29th anniversary of a mass shooting. Mark Sykes, one of the survivors of the deadly 1992 shooting at the Sean Graham bookmakers on Ormeau Road, was arrested on Friday

The law firms and barristers earning most from legal aid in Northern Ireland are set to be named again under plans put out to consultation today. The Legal Services Agency has not published details of payments made to solicitor firms and individual barristers for nearly five years.