Northern Ireland

UK government plans to address the legacy of the past represent a "full-frontal attack on the rule of law" in spite of revisions making an amnesty conditional on co-operation with authorities, campaigners have said. Yesterday's Queen's speech, setting out the government's legislative programme for t

Roger McMillan, managing partner and head of healthcare at Belfast-based Carson McDowell, has been named as a recipient of the 2022 Industry Defender Award by the board of directors of the Medical Professional Liability (MPL) Association. The award is presented to individual defence lawyers who have

Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal has dismissed a claim that a prisoner’s human rights were infringed when his housing benefit was denied for four months during his period of imprisonment. The court found that there had been no discrimination between treatment of convicted and unconvict

Lawyers for the relatives of two victims of the Troubles have sought to have their challenge to the UK government's controversial legacy plans heard in the UK Supreme Court. Patricia Burns, daughter of Thomas Burns, and Daniel McCready, nephew of James McCann, had their case rejected by Northern Ire

Tributes have been paid to Northern Ireland media law expert Paul McDonnell after he passed away on Thursday. Mr McDonnell, formerly a partner at McKinty and Wright (now part of DAC Beachcroft) and a consultant at Carson McDowell, had been an in-house lawyer at the Belfast Telegraph and Sunday Life

European law firm Fieldfisher has announced plans to double the size of its Belfast office's graduate legal professional programme following the successful completion of the scheme's first year. All five inductees in the scheme's first programme, run in partnership with the University of Law, secure

Northern Ireland’s Court of Appeal has delivered a judgment on the appropriate method for calculating custody expiry dates for prisoners facing concurrent sentences. The court rejected the argument that the calculation of a release date for one offence must take into consideration any period o

The first of our new regular round-up of deals involving Northern Ireland law firms. Submit your deals to newsdesk@irishlegal.com. Tughans has advised Vyta, a leader in the fast-growing IT asset disposition (ITAD) market, on both its significant investment from private equity firm MML Growth Capital

A Northern Ireland Crown Court sitting in Belfast has determined that James McVeigh will go 18 years without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to the 2019 murder of Paul Smyth. The court’s decision was impacted by aggravating factors, such as the fact that McVeigh was out on bail

Cleaver Fulton Rankin has been shortlisted in the 'Excellence in Innovation' category at the Belfast Telegraph Business Awards 2022. The category recognises businesses that have placed innovation at the forefront of recent developments, including adopting a culture of continuous improvement and demo

Belfast-based Carson McDowell has announced the appointment of four new partners in its Belfast and Dublin offices. In Belfast, Hilary Griffith, Richard Dickson and Damian McElholm have been appointed as partners in the corporate, real estate and banking and finance teams respectively. In Dublin, Ka

Northern Ireland lawyer Conor McCann has joined Australian firm Celtic Legal as an overseas qualified solicitor in the firm's commercial practice. Based in Toowong, Queensland, Celtic Legal is a boutique law firm specialising in commercial law, insolvency and debt recovery.

Northern Ireland’s High Court has dismissed a man's claim to reverse a bankruptcy order where it was argued that his delay in selling cattle had been caused by pending litigation and the pandemic. In addition, the debtor's request for an extension of time to set aside the statutory demand upon

New all-Ireland arbitration rules written in plain English have been welcomed as a boost for Ireland's bid to become a global centre for commercial dispute resolution. The All-Ireland Arbitration Rules 2020 are the first to be published in 30 years and are specifically designed to take account of th

Legal and professional services group Gateley has announced the appointment of real estate lawyer Alison Reid as its office managing partner in Belfast. Ms Reid joined the business in 2021 as a partner in the real estate team, specialising in the supported and assisted living sector as well as resid