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
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 frameworkagainst which applicants will be consideredhas 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 thecompetencies 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 Panelwill make recommendations for appointment as Queen’s Counsel to Lord Falconer. TheSelection Panel, chaired by Sir Duncan Nichol CBE, is independent of the legal professions and of Government. .
The Selection Panelincludes a substantial lay (ie non-lawyer) membership and a retired senior judge (BaronessButler-Sloss). Their recommendations will be passed to Lord Falconer who will put therecommendations to The Queen. Lord Falconer has no power to veto names or to addnames 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
0207831 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 processapplicants have to pay an application fee of £2500 (+VAT). There will be a furtherappointment fee of £3000 (+ VAT) paid by successful applicants only.