FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MONDAY 11 DECEMBER 2006
APPOINTMENT AS QUEEN’S COUNSEL:
2007 COMPETITION ANNOUNCED
The independent Selection Panel for appointing Queen’s Counsel has announced today that
it is inviting applications from barristers and solicitors with Higher Courts advocacy rights for
appointment as Queen’s Counsel from Tuesday 12 December 2006.
From Tuesday 12 December, the application form and guidance for applicants will be
available on the Selection Panel's website www.qcapplications.org.uk.
The deadline for receipt of applications is 2 pm on Monday 15 January 2007. On current
expectations the outcome of the applications is likely to be announced around the end of
2007.
The Selection Panel will be looking for essentially the same skills and attributes as in the
2005-06 competition. However, the competency framework against which applicants will be
considered has been simplified:
A. Understanding and using the law
B. Oral and written advocacy
C. Working with others
D. Diversity
E. Integrity
To be appointed an applicant must demonstrate the competencies to a standard of
excellence. Applicants are required to provide a self assessment as to how they meet the
competencies and the names of referees who have recently encountered them at work –
judges or arbitrators, fellow practitioners and professional clients or client proxies.
Applicants who appear to the Selection Panel credible candidates for appointment on the
strength of the references and the self-assessment will be interyiewed.
Under the Scheme developed by the Bar Council and the Law Society, and approved by the
Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs (Lord Falconer), the
Queen’s Counsel Selection Panel will make recommendations for appointment as Queen’s
Counsel to Lord Falconer. The Selection Panel, chaired by Sir Duncan Nichol CBE, is
independent of the legal professions and of Government. .
The Selection Panel includes a substantial lay (ie non-lawyer) membership and a retired
senior judge (Baroness Butler-Sloss). Their recommendations will be passed to Lord
Falconer who will put the recommendations to The Queen. Lord Falconer has no power to
veto names or to add names of his own. The Scheme is funded entirely by fees from
applicants.
Ends
Notes to Editors
1. Further information from David Watts, Head of QC Appointments Secretariat
020 7831 0020.
2. Members of the QC Selection Panel are:
Sir Duncan Nichol CBE (Chairman)
Roy Amlot QC
Baroness Elizabeth Butler-Sloss, GBE
Ruth Evans
Professor Joan Higgins
Jean Ritchie QC
Lucy Scott-Moncrieff
Karamjit Singh, CBE
Christopher Woolley.
3. The document setting out the principles and mechanics of the new process has been
agreed by the Bar and the Law Society. It has been slightly modified in the light of the last
competition for appointment as Queen’s Counsel, the first to be conducted by the Selection
Panel.
4. The Scheme is entirely self-financing. To cover the costs of the process applicants have to
pay an application fee of £2500 (+VAT). There will be a further appointment fee of £3000 (+
VAT) paid by successful applicants only.