Northern Ireland

The Probation Board for Northern Ireland has announced the appointment of two new directors. Gillian Montgomery has been appointed as director for courts and community and Stephen Hamilton has been appointed as director for programmes, prison and public protection.

DWF has been named as a supplier on the Crown Commercial Service framework for Wider Public Sector – Legal Services. The firm's appointment spans all three lots, giving the business the ability to advise the wider UK public sector, primarily local government and other associated bodies, throug

The maximum value of claims which can be heard in Northern Ireland's small claims court has been increased from £3,000 to £5,000. The increase was brought forward following consideration of responses to a public consultation on increasing the general civil jurisdiction of the county cour

Northern Ireland’s High Court has found that the decision not to expel a student who intentionally attacked a fellow classmate was rational. The judge found that it was “not for the courts to micro-manage discipline within schools”. The applicant, a girl commencing her Year 11 educ

A public consultation has been launched to seek views on increasing the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) in Northern Ireland, which is currently just 10 years of age. The MACR is the age from which a child can be held criminally responsible for their actions, and can subsequently face t

Postgraduate student Oisin Cleere has been awarded a prestigious Allen & Overy (A&O) trophy recognising excellence in the field of librarianship and information management. Mr Cleere, a postgraduate student at Ulster University and a senior library assistant with Kildare Library Service, is

Belfast-based Cleaver Fulton Rankin has named Patrick O'Hanlon and Stuart Sproule as directors in its real estate and corporate and commercial departments. Mr O'Hanlon joins the real estate team after several years working with a national law firm. He commenced his career in the construction sector

The UK Supreme Court will soon have the opportunity to settle the law relating to the proximity issue of plaintiffs as secondary victims in claims arising from clinical negligence, writes Belfast barrister James Stitt. On 13th January 2022 the Court of Appeal of England and Wales handed down judgeme

The trial of a former British soldier in connection with Bloody Sunday in 1972 was delayed after an administrative error saw lawyers directed to the wrong court. “Soldier F” was charged in March 2019 with the murder of James Wray and William McKinney, and the attempted murders of Joseph

Carson McDowell has announced the appointment of Bobbi Murtagh, Paul Hadden, Ruth O’Gara, Clare Eccles and Emer Sweeney as solicitors following the end of their training contracts in its Belfast office. Ms Murtagh, Mr Hadden, Ms O'Gara, Ms Eccles and Ms Sweeney have joined the healthcare, bank

Social media companies must be held legally responsible for what users post on their platforms in order to protect individuals from defamation, harassment and abuse, the Law Society of Northern Ireland's centenary conference heard. Friday's conference closed with a panel discussion chaired by well-k

The Belfast office of UK law firm TLT has been recognised with the Silver Diversity Mark on its first round of application, two years after it was first awarded the Bronze Diversity Mark. The Diversity Mark accreditation is a mark of progress that allows organisations to demonstrate to their own peo

Lawyer and technologist Professor Richard Susskind OBE put the cat among the pigeons at the Law Society of Northern Ireland's centenary conference when he suggested that solicitors may one day be rendered obsolete by technological advances. His keynote speech on Friday morning came after the Law Soc

Personal injury and road traffic accident specialist firm JMK Solicitors has opened a new office in Derry as part of plans to expand across Northern Ireland. The firm's new office — joining its existing offices in Belfast and Newry — is located on the Culmore Road, close to Derry's city

Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal has dismissed 10 grounds of appeal following the manslaughter of a three-year-old boy. The court rejected arguments that photos of the crime scene prejudiced the applicant, and noted that the applicant’s past convictions for domestic violence were relev