Queen's Counsel

Queen's Counsel (postnominal QC), during the reign of a male Sovereign known as King's Counsel (KC), are barristers or, in Scotland, advocates appointed by letters patent to be one of "Her Majesty's Counsel learned in the law". They do not constitute a separate order or degree of lawyers. They are, however, more than merely a professional rank, as their status is conferred by the Crown and recognised by the courts.

History: England

The Attorney-General, Solicitor-General, and King's Sergeants were King's Counsel in Ordinary. The first Queen's Counsel "Extraordinary" was Sir Francis Bacon, who was given a patent giving him precedence at the Bar in 1597, and formally styled King's Counsel in 1603 (W. S. Holdsworth, History of English Law (1938) vi 473-4; Patent Rolls, 2 Jac I p 12 m 15).

Related Topics:
Attorney-General - Solicitor-General - King's Sergeant - Sir Francis Bacon - 1597 - 1603

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The obsolete rank of Serjeant-at-Law was formerly more senior, though it was overtaken formally in the 1670s, and professionally in the course of the late eighteenth century by the newer rank. The Attorney-General and Solicitor-General, had similarly succeeded the King's Serjeants as leaders of the Bar in Tudor times, though not technically senior until 1623 (except for the two senior King's Serjeants) and 1813 respectively (JH Baker, "The English Legal Profession 1450-1550" in Wilfred Prest (ed), Lawyers in Early Modern Europe and America (1981), 20). But the Queen's Counsel only emerged into eminence and integrity in the early 1830s, prior to when they were relatively few in number. It became the standard means of recognising that a barrister was a senior member of the profession, and the numbers multiplied accordingly (Daniel Duman, The English and Colonial Bars in the Nineteenth Century (1983) 35.) It became of greater professional importance to become a QC, and the serjeants gradually declined. The QCs inherited not merely the prestige of the serjeants, but enjoyed priority before the courts.

Related Topics:
Serjeant-at-Law - 1670 - Tudor - 1813 - 1830

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Queen's Counsel and serjeants were prohibited, at least from the mid-nineteenth century, from doing chamber work. They were briefed together with a junior barrister, and they had to have chambers in London (Duman 98-99). Till 1920 in England and Wales they had to have a licence to appear in criminal cases for the defence. On appointment, QCs renounced the preparation of written pleadings and other chamber practices.

Related Topics:
Nineteenth century - London - England - Wales

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Queen's Counsel were traditionally selected from barristers, rather than from lawyers in general. This was because they were counsel appointed to conduct court work on behalf of the Crown. Although the limitations upon private employment was gradually relaxed, they continued to be selected from barristers, who had the sole right of audience to the higher courts. However, in 1994 solicitors of England and Wales were entitled to be admitted to the upper courts. Some 275 were so practising in 1995. In 1995 these solicitors alone became entitled to apply for appointment as Queen's Counsel. The first such was appointed March 1997 (On 27 March 1997, of the 68 new QCs announced, two were solicitors. These were Arthur Marriott (53), partner of the London office of the American law firm of Wilmer Cutler and Pickering, and Dr Lawrence Collins (55), a partner of the City law firm of Herbert Smith who was subsequently appointed as a High Court Judge.

Related Topics:
27 March - 1997

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The first women to be appointed as King's Counsel were Helen Normanton and Rose Heilbron in 1949.

Related Topics:
Helen Normanton - Rose Heilbron - 1949

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The appointment of further Queen's Counsel was suspended in 2003 and it was widely expected that the system would be abolished, although existing QCs were not affected by the suspension. However, a vigorous campaign was mounted in defence of the system, including those who supported it as an independent indication of excellence valued by outsiders who did not have much else to go on, and especially foreign commercial litigants, and those who contended in a letter to The Times in London that it was a means whereby the most able barristers from ethnic minorities could overcome prejudice. The Government's focus then switched from abolition to reform and, in particular, reform of the much-criticised "secret soundings" of Judges and other establishment legal figures upon which the old system was based, which was said to be inappropriate and unfair given the size of the modern profession, a possible source of improper Government patronage (since the final recommendations were made by the Lord Chancellor, who is a member of the Government) and discriminatory against part-time workers (especially women) and ethnic minorities.

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In November 2004, it was announced that appointments to the title of Queen's Counsel in England would be resumed but that future appointees would not be chosen by the government but by a nine-member panel, chaired by a lay person, which will include two barristers, two solicitors, one retired judge and three non-lawyers.http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/11/25/nlaw25.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/11/25/ixhome.html. Application forms for appointment under the new system were released in July 2005 and the next round of appointments is due to be made in early 2006, after which further appointments will be made annually, as before.

Related Topics:
2004 - England - 2005 - 2006

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