DECEMBER 2025 – ARTICLES & ITEMS OF INTEREST
DECEMBER 2025 – ARTICLES & ITEMS OF INTEREST
PRACTISING CERTIFICATE RENEWAL
The December issue of Law Society Gazette contains an article reminding practitioners that all applications for the coming practice year must be submitted online through www.lawsociety.ie/pc.
It also reminds practitioners that, to have a practising certificate bearing the date 1 January 2026, they must submit a fully completed application with full payment of fees to the Law Society on or before Sunday 1 February 2026. Any applications received after that date will bear the date when the fully completed application and fees are received by the Law Society.
The article sets out the new payment methods.
The Law Society’s website features a range of instructional videos, aimed at assisting both individual solicitors and firm administrators with the application process and new payment process.
To view this article, see Gazette Magazine page 14.
PENSION AUTO-ENROLMENT – ARTICLE AND FREE WEBINAR
In the December issue of the Law Society Gazette, Davin Spollen, vice-president of the Irish Institute of Pensions Management and CEO of Arachas Employee Benefits, discusses pension auto-enrolment.
This article discusses pensions under the following headings: – Employees, Eligibility, Reviewing options, See it as a prompt and Looking ahead.
The article also references and provides a link to the recently hosted a free webinar by the Law Society for solicitors to help employers understand their obligations, payroll adjustments, and implications for employment contracts. The session covered an overview of the auto-enrolment framework and how it will operate in practice, an overview of employer requirements, and last-minute checks and guidance.
To view this article and/or obtain the link to the free webinar see Gazette Magazine page 24.
IRELAND PUBLISHES A ‘KNOW YOUR RIGHTS’ GUIDE FOR TRANS AND NON-BINARY PEOPLE
On the 9 December 2025, the Irish Legal News published a news item advising that a new “know your rights” guide for trans and non-binary people has been published by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL), in collaboration with ShoutOut and Transgender Equality Network Ireland (TENI).
The guide ‘Know Your Rights: A Guide for Trans and Non-Binary People’ is the first comprehensive resource of its kind in Ireland.
It sets out in plain English the rights of trans and non-binary adults and young people, with information on areas including legal gender recognition, family life, healthcare, safety and protection from harm, education, protections in the workplace, access to goods and services, interactions with law enforcement, prison and sports.
To view this article in full and for the link to the guide see New ‘know your rights’ guide for Irish trans and non-binary people | Irish Legal News
2025 NATIONAL CYBER RISK ASSESSMENT PUBLISHED BY THE NCSC
On 2 December 2025, the National Cyber Security Centre published the 2025 National Cyber Risk Assessment.
The National Cyber Risk Assessment identifies three key systemic risks that will help to inform the next national cyber security strategy in its approach to protecting Ireland’s critical infrastructure, namely: (1) the dynamic geopolitical environment; (2) evolving technology and its implications on security; and (3) supply chain security.
It makes five recommendations to mitigate Ireland’s identified risks, which will feed into the government’s next national cyber security strategy, namely: (1) Strengthen Visibility and Detection; (2) Implement Proactive Cyber Defence Capabilities; (3) Enhance National Resilience; (4) Secure Critical Supply Chains and (5) Invest in National Cyber Capacity.
To view this document see NCSC-2025_National_Cyber_Risk_Assessment.pdf
REMOTE WORKING
In the winter edition of the DSBA Parchment, Zoe Hughes, Solicitor, discusses remote working and assesses recent caselaw.
She states, ‘In view of the prevalence of remote working, it is important that employers are fully aware of the parameters of the legal framework and the emerging case-law.’
The article considers the legislation and discusses remote working under the following headings: –
- The Law – Part 3 of the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023 (the Act)
- Employee’s right to request an RWA (Remote Working Arrangement) – Section 20 of the Act
- Employer’s Obligation to the consider the request – Section 11 of the Act
- Termination of a RWA – Section 22 of the Act
- Alteration of a RWA – Section 23 of the Act
- Return to original working arrangement – Section 24 of the Act
- Abuse of a RWA – Section 25 of the Act
- Protection against Penalisation – Section 26 of the Act
- Redress – Section 27 of the Act
- Requirement to keep records – Section 28 of the Act
Zoe Hughes also looks at the Case Law and how the WRC is applying the Act in practice. She states at the time of writing the article, the WRC had published 13 decisions in respect of complaints under the Act, and in 10 of the 13 cases the WRC deemed the claim ‘not to be well founded’. The article discusses 7 of the cases.
To view this article see Parchment Winter 2025 by 256 Content – Issuu
AI FOR SOLICITORS
On the 11 December 2025, the Law Society of Ireland published an article titled ‘Law firms ‘juiciest target’ for AI-enhanced hacks’.
The article states;
Generative AI is a significant evolution from traditional predictive models, but it is not a database, the Law Society Technology Committee 2025 conference has heard.
Speaking at AI for Today’s Lawyer (November 26), Professor John Kelleher explained that LLMs (large language models) reproduce linguistic patterns rather than retrieve authoritative or up-to-date information.
Bias
The chair of computer science at TCD added that AI had been shown to display gender and racial bias and to produce plausible but false content known as hallucinations.
Professor John Kelleher said that careful prompting was key to guiding AI safely and effectively.
Expert oversight
Structured prompts, repeated consistently, improve reliability, but expert oversight remains crucial.
Brian McElligott (MHC) highlighted the issue of confidentiality, warning that using free LLMs was effectively “putting information out to the public”.
Even within ringfenced AI platforms, practitioners must ask: “Where is my data going? How is it being processed?”
The head of artificial intelligence at MHC added: “Just because you can use something doesn’t mean your clients are happy with you using it.”
The Law Society has also issued guidelines on AI.
AI has “changed the volume, speed and quality” of cyber-attacks, according to cyber security expert Paul Delahunty (Stryve), particularly in regard to impersonation and automation.
Law firms, who held client money and sensitive data, were “the juiciest targets,” Delahunty said, particularly for ransomware attacks.
Eimear Lane (Brown & Brown Insurance Brokers) highlighted the shift in ransomware economics, because even lower-threat actors could feed stolen documents into models that instantly identified valuable content.
Describing it as “mind-boggling” from an insurance perspective, Lane said that insurance companies, although so far silent on AI, were watching.
“You might find in a couple of years they’ll start excluding areas of cover, similar to what they did with the cyber.”
Solicitor Elizabeth Fitzgerald pointed out that the cyber-security section of long-form insurance proposals acted as “a great checklist for things to implement in the firm”.
Eimear Lane added that modern policies provided training, incident response and ransomware cover and, while risk could not be eliminated, it could be diminished.
The above are just a few comments from the article to view this article in full see Law firms ‘juiciest target’ for AI-enhanced hacks
LSRA PUBLISH NEW STRATEGIC PLAN FOR 2025 – 2028
On the 3 December 2025, the LSRA published a press release with a link to the LSRA Strategic Plan 2025–2028 which sets out a vision for legal services that are trusted and accessible to all.
The press release states ‘Over the past decade, the LSRA has played a central role in shaping the regulation of legal services in Ireland. It has introduced new business models, such as limited liability partnerships and legal partnerships, and continues to focus on modern, proportionate and effective approaches to regulation that benefit both legal practitioners and the public.
In its new strategic plan, the LSRA sets out how excellent standards in legal service delivery, empowered consumers, and effective operations go hand in hand to support the proper administration of justice and promote the public interest. These strategic priorities will guide its programme of work to 2028.’
To view this press release in full see LSRA Strategic Plan 2025–2028 sets out vision for legal services that are trusted and accessible to all – Legal Services Regulatory Authority