Law Society

Philip Meagher is founder of the annual music and arts festival held in Emo, Co Laois

Minister urged to enter talks before High Court decision next week on challenge to new payment model

Minister urged to mediate criminal legal aid dispute as more courts disruption looms

MacGuill successfully defended an IRA escapee and the State’s first female genital mutilation prosecution, among other landmark cases

Data supplied by Minister for Justice show 75% of cases dealt with in one appearance under new system and 99% within five dates

Law Society and Bar Council urge Minister for Justice to move to break impasse

Opposition parties call on Minister for Justice to attend Oireachtas committee to discuss ongoing feud with solicitors

New legal term next month will usher in high volume of cases including long-running hearings of over four weeks

Some solicitors are quietly signing up to the Minister for Justice’s new payments system – but few will speak publicly about it

Minister on Tuesday wrote to Law Society saying he would not be appointing an independent mediator in an attempt to resolve the dispute

I am aware of at least one case where an accused, who was unrepresented in the District Court and granted bail, assaulted their partner to a degree requiring surgery within two days of being released

Complainant says adjournment of trial has exacerbated his mental health difficulties

As the graduate job market tightens, young people are finding it increasingly tough to get a start

Appearance of children in court without legal representation ‘deeply concerning’, says Children’s rights advocates

Micheál Martin says direct engagement is the ‘best’ way to resolve row over new €520 flat fee

Rosemarie Loftus told Jim O’Callaghan she was ‘surprised’ he suggested the criminal courts were ‘operating effectively’

MacGuill took test case that forced Government to reform Ireland’s criminal injuries compensation scheme

Oireachtas justice committee to invite Minister to hearing as courts backlog worsens; Minister insists courts are ‘operating effectively’

Law Society president says income eligibility threshold of €18,000, unchanged since 2006, ‘locking people out of justice’

Impact of dispute set to escalate as courts resume after summer recess

Letter sent to Jim O’Callaghan setting out measures that could end row ‘under consideration’ by Department of Justice

Many solicitors burn out from years of late nights and weekends spent on call and attending prisons and Garda stations

Solicitors ask for ‘targeted corrections and adjustments’ in exchange for adopting new scheme on interim basis

Some solicitors have withdrawn their services in protest at the new arrangement, which came into effect earlier this month

Most unhappy at single flat-fee payments, but adjustments to address concerns have pleased others

Controversial €520 fee to remain in place under fresh proposals but two-thirds of payment to be made at start of case

Lawyers’ representative body had ‘good meeting’ with Minister for Justice over legal aid dispute

Minister for Justice to meet Law Society representatives amid bitter row over remuneration reforms

Positive developments hoped for in separate criminal legal aid dispute

In the News podcast: Lawyers reject new payment model which will reduce their earnings

Jim O’Callaghan says he will meet Law Society to discuss its concerns about reforms

Action over new payment model led to thousands of criminal cases being adjourned in courts across the country

Industrial action could affect cases concerning child custody, access and domestic violence

At least 88 solicitors have resigned from criminal legal aid panel amid a row over fee structure changes

Family lawyers demand ‘immediate’ action over pay and legal aid reform as criminal courts face shutdown

Minister says only a small number of solicitors are boycotting the new flat fees arrangement

Failure to stop export of alumina from to Russia will be ‘stained with the blood of Ukrainians’, says Dmytro Kuleba

One Dublin court sitting shows how row between Minister for Justice and solicitors over cuts in legal fees is affecting cases

Criminal defence solicitors seek intervention of human rights body as dispute continues

New costs rules breach Irish and EU law, An Taisce, Friends of Irish Environment say