Law on Trial podcast covering legal issues in Ireland and beyond
A new legal affairs podcast called Law on Trial has been launched by the Business Post. Law on Trial is hosted by Mark Tottenham BL, editor of Decisis.ie, and Peter Leonard BL, with Catherine Sanz, legal correspondent of the Business Post. The show wil …
Decisis | September 15, 2021
“Child-friendly” Judgments and Beyond: Simple Language in the Superior Courts
Introduction It’s hard to recall the number of times I was told as a student to avoid legalese at all costs. I was advised that it only complicates reading and does little to impress an examiner. I’m sure many who read this will have had the same exper …
Seán Beatty BL | September 13, 2021
Women and the Law: Historic discrimination in Ireland
Gender equality in the workplace, in the family and in society more generally remains a much discussed and debated topic in Ireland, especially post-COVID when the general consensus seems to be that gender equality has been severely impacted by the pan …
Gemma McLoughlin Burke | September 7, 2021
Law Students Lament: A Slow Decline of Easily Memorised Rules of Thumb?
Depending on who you ask, a “rule of thumb” is either a useful way of remembering an otherwise wearisome idea, or a phrase which harks back to an origin we might prefer to forget. Some years ago, in the long-running “On Language” column in the New York …
Seán Beatty BL | August 18, 2021
You can’t handle the truth: The Perjury Act of 2021
On the 28th of July 2021, the Criminal Justice (Perjury and Related Offences) Act 2021 came into effect, creating a statutory offence of perjury. Prior to its enactment, perjury was a common law offence without a clear definition or sentencing paramete …
Gemma McLoughlin Burke | August 12, 2021
Gendered language and the law – Farewell sirs!
(First published in Decisis Law Ireland in October 2020) In their most recent effort to make the profession more inclusive, the Law Society have issued a statement informing members that the standard salutation “Dear Sirs” will be removed from future c …
Gemma McLoughlin Burke | July 11, 2021
Bakshi Mohit – A tale of perseverance to the Bar
Bakshi Mohit, who is from Mauritius, is a first year devil practicing in the area of crime. Although he studied the Diploma and the Barrister-at-law degree in the Inns, Bakshi’s path to the Bar has been anything but conventional. In fact, it was in 200 …
Gemma McLoughlin Burke | July 11, 2021
Barristers’ Court Dress
(Originally published in Law Ireland in May 2020) In 1995, quite a stir was made when the barristers’ wig, formerly considered obligatory, was made optional under section 49 of the Courts and Courts Officers Act of that year. Some traditional judges we …
Mark Tottenham BL | July 11, 2021
Vicarious trauma in the legal profession
(This piece was originally published in Law Ireland in January 2020) In December 2019, it was reported that a former ‘content moderator’ was suing Facebook Ireland, as well as a recruitment agency, for psychological injuries (“Man sues Facebook over ha …
Mark Tottenham BL | June 29, 2021
Big Brother Watch v UK – Data Protection for beginners
The Edward Snowden leaks, which began in 2013, exposed a wide-range of State surveillance and storage of data by governments across the world, including the US and the UK. One particular issue that was exposed was the so-called “bulk interception” of d …
Gemma McLoughlin Burke | June 24, 2021
