Northern Ireland

Retired Belfast solicitor James Wilson Russell has passed away at the age of 100. Mr Russell, known to many as Jay, qualified as a solicitor in 1944 after an apprenticeship with TG Mackintosh of Newtownards.

The PSNI has been urged by human rights campaigners to end the practice of strip searching children. Members of the NI Policing Board told investigative news and analysis website The Detail that they continue to have concerns despite the force establishing a new "accountability panel" last year.

The Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (NIHRC) prize for the best Master's dissertation submitted to the Transitional Justice Institute (TJI) at Ulster University has been awarded to Fiona MacGregor. Ms MacGregor's dissertation, "Whose Rape is it Anyway?", explores UN responses to opportunisti

Northern Ireland solicitor Alison Millar has been appointed as a director of the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB). Mrs Millar was a partner at Coleraine-based Macaulay Wray prior to her retirement from practice in 2017. She carried out part-time judicial work for over 39 years before retiri

Northern Ireland's bail regime is out-of-step with neighbouring jurisdictions, leading to more people being held on remand and for longer, according to a new report from the criminal justice watchdog. Following the report's publication this morning, the chief inspector of criminal justice in No

Northern Ireland’s High Court has determined that it is in the best interests of a child to be relocated to Poland, where he has family ties and where his mother’s new husband is based. The court noted the emotional impact that refusing the application could have on the mother and, in tu

James Milliken of Carson McDowell reports that we are beginning to see artificial intelligence take on complex tasks such as assisting lawyers with drafting contracts. Artificial intelligence (AI) plays an ever-increasing role in our everyday lives. It is used in Face ID and other image recognition

Northern Ireland's High Court has dismissed applications for judicial review alleging breaches of statutory duty by the Department of Health and two health and social care trusts over treatment waiting times. In a judgment handed down this morning, Mr Justice Adrian Colton said the "crisis" in waiti

A public consultation on Northern Ireland's draft three-year strategy for tackling modern slavery and human trafficking will close tonight. The strategy will focus on prevention, protecting victims and pursuing offenders and has been developed in collaboration with the Organised Crime Task Force (OC

DWF has been reappointed to Aviva's core legal panel. The firm will provide a broader range of services to meet Aviva's requirements in England & Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and globally. DWF is one of four firms to be appointed to this panel, significantly reduced from the previous nine-f

The UK government has said it will set out a timetable this week for reaching a fresh decision on whether to order an inquiry into the 1998 murder of Belfast solicitor Pat Finucane. Northern Ireland’s High Court last month quashed a decision by the UK government not to establish a public inqui

Belfast-based Paschal O’Hare Personal Injury Solicitors has hired a paralegal to assist with increasing demand for its legal services across Northern Ireland. Caitlin Bartlett graduated with a first-class honours LLB from the Open University in 2022, taking a particular interest in tort law.

Northern Ireland’s High Court has struck out an action as being doomed to fail and frivolous where the lay litigant plaintiff was seeking a combined £300 million for alleged failures by his legal representatives and the police to enforce a court order. The court also rejected his claim t

Northern Ireland's minimum age of criminal responsibility should be increased to 14 years old, The Bar of Northern Ireland has said. The Department of Justice last year launched a consultation on increasing the minimum age of criminal responsibility (MACR) in Northern Ireland, which is currently jus

Family lawyer Claire Edgar has been appointed as chair of the Belfast Area Domestic & Sexual Violence and Abuse Partnership's protection and justice working group. The partnership brings together agencies, organisations, groups and individuals who share a common interest and purpose in improving