Northern Ireland

Legislation has come into effect in Northern Ireland allowing civil partnerships to be converted into marriages and vice versa. Under The Marriage and Civil Partnership (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020, same-sex couples can for the first time convert their civil partnerships into marriage

Most of the sexual offences cases in which convictions were set aside just over two months ago after a legislative error came to light will not return to court, prosecutors have announced. The Public Prosecution Service (PPS) yesterday announced the outcome of its review of the 15 cases involving 17

HHD Solicitors has announced the promotion of John O’Kelly to associate solicitor. Mr O'Kelly graduated from the University of Ulster in 2010 with a 2:1 in Law with Politics and qualified as a solicitor in 2013. 

A former midwifery student at Queen's University Belfast has settled a disability discrimination case against the university for £20,000. Sarah Walker, who lives with cystic fibrosis, brought the case with support from the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland (ECNI).

A man convicted four decades ago of offences linked to alleged paramilitary activity has had the convictions quashed in the Court of Appeal in Belfast.

The police have apologised to 115 people after they were stopped and searched without correct approval due to a "technical error". The paperwork authorising the searches had been signed by an individual who lacked authority, the BBC reports.

Work has recommenced on drafting a defamation reform bill for Northern Ireland, but it is unlikely to be debated until after the next Stormont elections. There have been prominent class for defamation reform in Northern Ireland since the Defamation Act 2013 overhauled the defamation regime in Englan

A transgender woman has brought judicial review proceedings arguing that the requirement to have a medical diagnosis in order to obtain a gender recognition certificate (GRC) breaches her human rights. Solicitor Ciarán Moynagh of Phoenix Law is representing the anonymous woman in the proceedi

Geraldine McGahey, chief commission of the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland, notes the continued importance of the landmark Disability Discrimination Act 1995. Today marks International Day of Persons with Disabilities – a day dedicated to promote full and equal participation of people

Lord Kerr of Tonaghmore, who retired from the UK Supreme Court bench just two months ago, has passed away at the age of 72. Tributes have been paid this morning to the former Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland, who was appointed as one of the inaugural members of the UKSC on its creation in 2009

There is "patchy" evidence of progress on reform of the youth justice system in Northern Ireland, a new report has warned. The Northern Ireland Audit Office (NIAO) has published a follow-up report considering progress made by the Department of Justice and Youth Justice Agency (YJA) since a highly cr

Telecoms giant BT has announced plans to invest over £2.7 million in a new first-of-its-kind legal hub in Belfast, creating up to 30 commercial lawyer roles over the next four years. Seven lawyers have joined the new BT hub, which will offer efficient, high-quality legal support to BT's corpor

Northern Ireland should overhaul its hate crime laws to adopt a statutory aggravation model similar to that in Scotland, a major judge-led review has concluded. Judge Desmond Marrinan was appointed last summer to carry out the independent review, which was first promised in 2017 following calls from

Fergal McGoldrick, associate at Carson McDowell, looks at the latest high-profile defamation case in London and considers how it compares to defamation in Northern Ireland. Amidst the gloom of rapidly darkening November evenings, and the doom of a global pandemic, the London libel court has roared b

Corporate and commercial law firm Mills Selig has announced the appointment of Chris Guy as managing partner. Mr Guy will take on the firm's leadership from 1 December 2020, taking over from John Kearns, who will stay on as senior partner.