2010-11 Competition

EMBARGOED UNTIL: 12.01am Thursday 11th March 2010
APPOINTMENT AS QUEEN’S COUNSEL: 2010-11 COMPETITION ANNOUNCED

The 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 Thursday 11th March 2010.

From Thursday 11th March 2010, 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 5 pm on Thursday 22nd April 2010. On current expectations the outcome of the applications is likely to be announced in the early part of 2011.

All applicants are assessed against the common competency framework and a common standard of excellence. There are no quotas, and the Panel treat all applications in the same way. The Selection Panel will be looking for applicants who demonstrate competencies to a standard of excellence. The competencies are:
A – (Understanding and Using the Law)
B – (Oral and Written Advocacy -including the preparation and court or resolution aspects of advocacy)
C – (Working with Others)
D – (Diversity)
E – (Integrity)

The award is for excellence in advocacy in the higher courts and equivalent tribunals, and arbitrations. Advocacy includes both written and oral advocacy. There is no minimum amount of in court or written advocacy required for an applicant to be successful, provided there is enough evidence for the Selection Panel to reach a conclusion as to excellence.

To be appointed an applicant must demonstrate the competencies to a standard of excellence. Applicants are required to provide a summary description of their practice, a self assessment as to how they meet the competencies and the names of assessors who have recently encountered them at work – judges or arbitrators, fellow practitioners
and professional clients or client proxies. The Selection Panel will consider the evidence from the summary description of practice, self assessment and assessments and decide on the strength of the available evidence which applicants justify an interview.

Queen’s Counsel Appointments
3rd Floor, Totara Park House, 34-36 Gray’s Inn Road, London, WC1X 8HR
Tel: 020 7831 0020, Fax: 020 7405 4953,
Email: enquiries@qcapplications.org.uk, www.qcappointments.org
DX 387 London Chancery Ln
Queen’s Counsel Appointments is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales Company Registration No. 05423088. VAT Registration No. 863 4611 21

The registered office is as above The Selection Panel has nine members with a substantial lay (i.e. non-lawyer)
membership. It is also chaired by a non-lawyer. The Selection Panel is independent of the legal professions and Government. There is one new Panel member this year; Sir David Keene.

The Selection Panel’s recommendations will be passed to the Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, who will put recommendations to The Queen. The Lord Chancellor 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. Professor Dame Joan Higgins DBE (Chair), Sir Colin Budd, Lucy Scott-Moncrieff, Lord Alex Carlile of Berriew QC, Helen Pitcher, Jean Ritchie QC, Razi Shah and Karamjit Singh CBE, will continue to be members of the Selection Panel during the 2010-11 competition. Sir David Keene is a new Panel member.
3. The document setting out the principles and mechanics of the process was agreed in 2004 and modified in 2006 by the Bar Council, Law Society and the (then) Department for Constitutional Affairs. A copy of this and other information is available on the QCA website www.qcapplications.org.uk.
4. The scheme is entirely self-financing. To cover the costs of the process applicants have to pay an application fee of £2,200 (+VAT). This is a 6% reduction from last year’s fee of £2,350 (+ VAT). There will be a further appointment fee of £3500 (+ VAT) paid by successful applicants only.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 09 MARCH 2010

PRESS RELEASE FROM BAR COUNCIL AND LAW SOCIETY ON APPOINTMENT
OF SIR DAVID KEENE TO QUEEN’S COUNSEL SELECTION PANEL

SIR DAVID KEENE APPOINTED TO QUEEN’S COUNSEL SELECTION PANEL

Sir David Keene, a retired Lord Justice of Appeal, has been appointed to the Queen’s Counsel Selection Panel, replacing Sir Paul Kennedy, as the judicial member of the independent panel, which assesses applicants for the position of Queen’s Counsel. The award of Queen’s Counsel is given to those who demonstrate excellence in advocacy in the higher courts, following objective assessment by the Panel.

The selection panel is independent, and also includes lay members, as well as senior barristers and solicitors. The judicial member of the Queen’s Counsel Selection Panel must be a retired senior judge. He is appointed by the Chairman of the Bar and the President of the Law Society jointly, after consultation with the Lord Chief Justice.
Sir David Keene was called to the Bar in 1964 by the Inner Temple, of which he later became a bencher and, in 2006, the Treasurer. He became a Q.C. in 1980 and a Recorder in 1989. He practised mainly in public law cases and at planning inquiries, obtaining planning permission for a number of large projects including London City Airport, a second runway at Manchester Airport and several large regional shopping centres, including Blue Water Park in Kent and the Trafford Centre in Manchester. He was Chairman of the Planning Bar Association in 1994. In
that same year, he became a High Court judge, QBD, in which capacity he sat also in the Administrative Court and the Employment Appeal Tribunal. In 2000, he was appointed to the Court of Appeal, from which he retired in 2009.

As well as serving on the Court of Appeal, Sir David Keene has been Chairman of the Judicial Studies Board, responsible for the training of judges and magistrates in England and Wales, and Chairman of its Advisory Committee on Equal Treatment. He is also an Honorary Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford Commenting on the appointment, Des Hudson, the Chief Executive of the Law Society, and David Hobart, the Chief Executive of the Bar Council, said:

‘We are delighted that Sir David Keene has been appointed to the QC Appointments Selection Panel. With his distinguished career and broad range of experience, we believe his appointment will further strengthen the QC Appointments process. We look forward to another successful Silk round in 2010-11.’

– ENDS –

Notes to editors
1. Sir Paul Kennedy, a retired Lord Justice of Appeal, is standing down after participating in two Queen’s Counsel competitions; he served on the Panel between 2008 and 2010.
2. Other members of the Panel are:
Professor Dame Joan Higgins DBE (Chair – appointed 2009, appointed lay Panel member 2005)
Sir Colin Budd KCMG (lay member – appointed 2009)
Lord (Alex) Carlile of Berriew QC (senior barrister member – appointed 2009)
Helen Pitcher (lay member – appointed 2009)
Jean Ritchie QC (senior barrister member – appointed 2006)
Lucy Scott-Moncrieff (senior solicitor member – appointed 2005)
Razi Shah (senior solicitor member – appointed 2009)
Karamjit Singh CBE (lay member – appointed 2005)
The Selection Panel consists of nine members, including a retired senior judge, senior lawyers (both barristers and solicitors) and distinguished lay people.

The judicial member of the Queen’s Counsel Selection Panel must be a retired senior judge. He is appointed by the Chairman of the Bar and the President of the Law Society jointly, after consultation with the Lord Chief Justice.
3. Sir David Keene was called to the Bar in 1964 and became a QC in 1980 and a Recorder in 1989. He practised mainly in public law cases and at planning inquiries, obtaining planning permission for a number of large projects including London City Airport, a second runway at Manchester Airport and several large regional shopping centres, including Blue Water Park in Kent and the Trafford Centre in Manchester. He was Chairman of the Planning Bar Association in 1994.

In 1994 he became a High Court judge, QBD, in which capacity he sat also in the Administrative Court and the Employment Appeal Tribunal. In 2000, he was appointed to the Court of Appeal, from which he retired in 2009. From 2003 to 2007 he was Chairman of the Judicial Studies Board, responsible for the training of judges and magistrates in England and Wales. He was for some years the U.K. Chairman of the Franco-British Judicial Co-operation Committee. He holds an Hon. LL.D from Brunel University, is an Honorary Fellow of the Society of
Advanced Legal Studies and is a member of the Board of the School of Advanced Studies, University of London.

4. For further information please contact the Law Society Press Office on 0207 320 5902.