Northern Ireland

High Court cases listed for a hearing next week should be adjourned for four weeks rather than eight weeks, the Lord Chief Justice has directed. Amended COVID-19 guidance issued to courts states that "in most cases the adjournment period will be one of eight weeks".

Belfast-based legal academic Dr Cheryl Lawther will conduct research at Berkeley School of Law after winning a prestigious grant. Dr Lawther, a senior lecturer in law at Queen's University Belfast, won a Fulbright Irish Scholar Award, providing up to 12 months of funding for scholars to conduct rese

Virtual prison visits have been rolled out across Northern Ireland's prisons following the suspension of in-person visits during the coronavirus pandemic. The video-link facilities introduced at Maghaberry Prison, Magilligan Prison and Hydebank Wood allow for 20-minute "visits" between prisoners and

Proposals to limit legacy investigations in order to protect former British soldiers from "vexatious claims" are incompatible with the UK's human rights obligations, a new report has warned. Professor Kieran McEvoy of Queen's University Belfast School of Law has led work by a team of legal experts t

Belfast City Council has put temporary measures in place to allow solicitors to continue to apply for property certificates via e-mail during the coronavirus pandemic. The move comes shortly after the Law Society of Northern Ireland raised concerns about the impact of the closure of the Land Registr

Justice Minister Naomi Long has paid tribute to "everyone working in the justice system" for their response to the coronavirus pandemic. Ms Long discussed the impact of COVID-19 on the criminal justice system with senior members of the judiciary, police and prosecution service at the Criminal Justic

The Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly published by Queen's University Belfast School of Law has expanded its open access archive. A total of 37 issues of the peer-reviewed international journal, dating from spring 2008 to winter 2016 (volumes 59 to 67) are now available online.

Cleaver Fulton Rankin has announced the appointment of Brid McColgan as an associate director in the firm's private client team. She joins the team led by director Michael Graham after previously working for over 10 years at a large commercial law firm in Northern Ireland in their private client dep

Prominent Belfast solicitor Niall Murphy, who has spent almost two weeks in hospital with coronavirus, has been taken off a ventilator amid signs of improvement, according to reports. Today's edition of The Irish News reports that Mr Murphy "is understood to have been taken off a ventilator" and "is

Retired Belfast solicitor Jacinta McCullough has passed away, the Law Society of Northern Ireland has said. Ms McCullough qualified as a solicitor in 1992 and worked in a number of practices, including Lennon Toner & O’Neill, Madden & Finucane and latterly McCullough and Co. on Upper N

Northern Ireland's ban on same-sex marriage amounted to unjustified discrimination against same-sex couples, the Court of Appeal in Belfast has ruled. However, delivering the judgment, the Lord Chief Justice, Sir Declan Morgan, said there was no purpose to be served by making a declaration under sec

International law firm Pinsent Masons has promoted three Belfast lawyers to legal directors in its 2020 promotion round. Lisa Early and Michael Hamill have been promoted to director in the corporate team, while Jane Boyd has been promoted to director in banking.

Dr Ciara Fitzpatrick has joined the Transitional Justice Institute (TJI) at Ulster University as a lecturer in law. Having worked extensively on access to justice and social security law, she brings additional capacity to the institute's work on gender and on socioeconomic rights.

Belfast-based MKB Law has welcomed back associate director and employment head Suzanne Keenan from maternity leave. In a blog post, Ms Keenan said her return to work during the coronavirus pandemic "may not be what I pictured, but it is still great to be back at it".

The Law Society of Northern Ireland has raised concerns over the impact of the Land Registry's closure during the coronavirus pandemic. The Department of Finance has said that the Registry's offices and phone lines will be closed until Wednesday 15 April, with the closure "kept under regular review"