120 Queen S Counsel Appointed in 2010-11 Competition

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE PUBLICATION

120 QUEEN’S COUNSEL APPOINTED IN 2010-11 COMPETITION

120 new appointments as Queen’s Counsel were announced today. These appointments are made following consideration by an independent Selection Panel, which recommends who should receive this coveted and prestigious award. This is the fifth round of appointments made under the revised arrangements introduced in 2005. All those appointed have demonstrated excellence in advocacy in the higher courts.

Professor Dame Joan Higgins, Chair of the QC Selection Panel, said today:

"I am delighted at the announcement of the 120 new Silks and I send each of them my warmest congratulations. Once again, the quality of applicants was very high and the Panel has been impressed with the wide range of backgrounds and practices represented among the new Queen’s Counsel.

We noted, in particular, the success of some two-thirds of all female applicants who are taking Silk this year. Relatively few female advocates are putting themselves forward for consideration for QC. But the markedly higher success rate for women applicants this year should send a positive signal to all suitably qualified women advocates, whether barrister or solicitor.

The proportion of successful applicants who have a declared an ethnic origin other than white broadly reflected their proportions at the Bar, where most of our applicants come from.

The Panel was able to recommend two of the five solicitor advocates who applied and one of the two employed advocate applicants.

I would like to say a word to our unsuccessful applicants. The standard for appointment is very high and requires excellence across all the competencies. Inevitably some applicants will be disappointed, but if an advocate has not been successful on this occasion that does not mean that he or she is not a highly valued and effective practitioner.

The Selection Panel would like to express its great appreciation to all the assessors who provided evidence on behalf of one or more applicants and without whom the process could not work effectively. All the Panel's decisions have been based on the evidence provided by these assessors and by the applicants themselves.

I also wish to express my thanks and appreciation to Lucy Scott-Moncrieff and Karamjit Singh who are standing down as Panel members, having both served the maximum five year term.

We are publishing a short report giving further information about this year's competition, with statistical information relating to successful and unsuccessful applicants. It will be available on our website".

The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Rt. Hon. Kenneth Clarke QC MP, announced today (under embargo) the names of 120 Queen’s Counsel from 251 applicants.

The 120 (48% of all applicants) appointed this year included:

27 women applicants (66 % of the 41 who applied). In the competition in 2009-10, 20 women (43% of the 46 who applied) were appointed,
12 applicants who declared an ethnic origin other than white (60 % of the 20 who applied – 8 % of all applicants), a higher proportion than in 2009-10 when 17 applicants (49%) were appointed,
2 applicants (of 5) who declared a disability. In the competitions in 2008-09 and 2009-10, 3 applicants declared a disability, with 1 applicant being appointed,
4 applicants aged 55 or over (19% of this age group) compared to 6 such applicants (24%) in 2009-10,
2 solicitor advocates (40% of the 5 who applied), compared with one of the 10 who applied in 2009-10,
I employed advocate (of 2 applicants). In 2009-10, 3 applications from employed advocates were received but none were appointed.

Ends

Notes to Editors

1.Queen’s Counsel are appointed by The Queen, on the advice of the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice. He is in turn advised by an independent Selection Panel which receives and considers each application and makes recommendations as to appointment.

2. The members of the independent Queen’s Counsel Selection Panel for the 2010-11 Competition were:

Professor Dame Joan Higgins DBE (Chair)

Sir Colin Budd KCMG

Lord (Alex) Carlile of Berriew QC

Sir David Keene

Helen Pitcher

Jean Ritchie QC

Lucy Scott-Moncrieff

Razi Shah

Karamjit Singh CBE

The Panel is supported by its own Secretariat.

3.The scheme was developed by the Bar Council and the Law Society, with the support of the (then) Department for Constitutional Affairs, and approved by the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State (Lord Falconer) in November 2004. Applications were first invited in 2005 and the first round of appointments under the new arrangements were announced in 2006. Refinements to the scheme were agreed in 2006 building on experience of the first year. The selection process is financed entirely through applicants' fees. A copy of the agreed Process and further information is available from the Queen’s Counsel Appointments website:

4.Applications closed on 22nd April 2010 and the Selection Panel delivered recommendations to the Secretary of State for Justice on 14th December 2010. Each applicant has been considered against five competencies:

Understanding and using the law
Oral and written advocacy
Working with others
Diversity
Integrity

175 of the 251 applicants were interviewed by the Selection Panel. All unsuccessful applicants receive personal feedback on their application. The Panel expects to invite applications for the next round of appointments in March 2011.

5.The new Queen’s Counsel announced today will formally become Silks when they make their declaration before the Lord Chancellor at the ceremony on 7 April 2011.

Lucy Scott-Moncrieff (senior solicitor member) and Karamjit Singh (lay member) are standing down as Panel members, having both served the maximum term of five competitions. Both have been members of the Selection Panel since its inception in 2005

Copies of the Selection Panel's report are available on the QCA website. Further information can also be obtained from David Watts, Head of QC Appointments Secretariat on 0207 831 0020.