2013-14 Competition

PRESS RELEASE
100 NEW QUEEN’S COUNSEL APPOINTED IN 2013-14 COMPETITION

100 new appointments as Queen’s Counsel (also known as silk) are announced today. These appointments are made by Her Majesty The Queen on the advice of the Lord Chancellor, Chris Grayling MP, following consideration by the independent Queen’s Counsel Selection Panel.

Helen Pitcher, Chairman of the Selection Panel, said today:
’I am delighted at the announcement of the new silks. I congratulate each one of them. The selection process is a rigorous and demanding one. We collect confidential assessments from judges, fellow advocates and professional clients, who give freely of their time to provide vital evidence about an applicant’s demonstration of the competencies. The best applicants are then interviewed by two members of the Panel, following which the whole
Panel discuss all the evidence on each applicant.

Each year, the Panel has the difficult task of identifying the truly excellent advocates. I am confident that those appointed today truly deserve to be Queen’s Counsel. Unsuccessful applicants will of course be very disappointed. But I must stress that almost all of those who are unsuccessful are nevertheless highly respected and effective advocates.

Finally, I should like to thank Sir Anthony May, Sir Colin Budd and Razi Shah, who are standing down from the Selection Panel at the end of this competition, for their contribution to our work.’

The Selection Panel is publishing a full report on the 2013-14 competition, with statistical information relating to successful and unsuccessful applicants. It will be available on the QC Appointments website sho were appointed,
• 11 applicants aged over 50 of the 43 who applied, compared with five over 50 year olds appointed last year. The youngest successful applicant on this occasion is 36 years old and the oldest is 68.
• Five solicitor advocates of the seven who applied. In 2012-13 one solicitor advocate was appointed.
• Two employed advocates of the six who applied. In 2012-13, no employed applicants were appointed.
• Five of the eight applicants who declared a disability. In 2012-13, Last year, no applicant who declared a disability was appointed.

Notes to Editors
1. Queen’s Counsel are appointed by The Queen, on the advice of the Lord Chancellor. 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 2013-14 competition were:
Helen Pitcher (Chairman)
Sir Alex Allan
Sir Colin Budd KCMG
Sir Alistair Graham
Linda Lee
Martin Mann QC
Sir Anthony May
Frances Oldham QC
Quinton Quayle
Razi Shah
The Selection Panel is supported by its own Secretariat.

3. The QC appointment 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 was announced in 2006. Refinements to the scheme, building on experience of the first year, were agreed in 2006. 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: www.qcapplications.org.uk

4. Applications for the 2013-14 competition closed on 17 April 2013 and the Selection Panel submitted recommendations to the Lord Chancellor on 6 December 2013.

Each applicant has been considered against five competencies:
• Understanding and using the law
• Written and oral advocacy
• Working with others
• Diversity
• Integrity

5. 162 of the 225 applicants were interviewed by the Selection Panel. All unsuccessful applicants receive written personal feedback on their application. The Panel expects to invite applications for the next round of appointments in March 2014.

6. The new Queen’s Counsel announced today will formally become silks when they make their declaration before the Lord Chancellor at the ceremony on 14 April 2014.

7. Copies of the Selection Panel’s report will be available on the QCA website from 19 February 2014. Further information can also be obtained from Russell Wallman, Head of QC Appointments Secretariat, on 0207 831 0020.

PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: MONDAY 4 MARCH 2013

THREE NEW MEMBERS APPOINTED TO
THE QC APPOINTMENTS SELECTION PANEL

Two new lay members and one new barrister member have been appointed to the QC Appointments Selection Panel.

Martin Mann QC is the new barrister member. He has been in Silk at the Chancery Bar since 1983 and sits as a deputy High Court Judge in the Chancery Division. He is joint Head of Chambers at XXIV Old Buildings.

The new lay members are Sir Alex Allan, who is currently the Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests and has had a distinguished career at the highest levels of the Civil Service; and Quinton Quayle, a former British Ambassador to Thailand, and to Romania. Commenting on the appointments, Desmond Hudson, and Oliver Delany, the Directors of QC Appointments, said:
‘We are extremely pleased to welcome these three new members to the QC Appointments Selection Panel. All three are distinguished professionals in their respective fields and their knowledge and skills will reinforce the QC Appointments process. We look forward to another successful Silk round as we proceed with the 2013-14 competition.’

Notes to editors:
1. The full list of QC Selection Panel members for 2013-14 will be:
• Helen Pitcher (Chairman – appointed 2012, appointed lay member 2009)
• Sir Alex Allan (lay member – appointed 2013)
• Sir Colin Budd KCMG (lay member – appointed 2009)
• Sir Alistair Graham (lay member – appointed 2011)
• Sir Anthony May (retired senior judicial member – appointed 2012)
• Linda Lee (senior solicitor member – appointed 2011)
• Martin Mann QC (senior barrister member – appointed 2013)
• Frances Oldham QC (senior barrister member – appointed 2012)
• Quinton Quayle (lay member – appointed 2013)
• Razi Shah (senior solicitor member – appointed 2009)

The new appointments arise because Lord Carlile of Berriew CBE QC and Felicity Huston are standing down from the Selection Panel at the end of the 2012-13 competition.

2. The Selection Panel is made up of a retired senior judge, senior lawyers (including both barristers and solicitors) and distinguished lay (not legally qualified) people. The work of the Panel is shared equally between lay and legally qualified members. The Panel Chair is always a lay member. The appointments were made following open competition. The barrister member was recruited by means of advertisement among barristers. The lay
members were recruited by means of a public advertisement.

3. Martin Mann QC works from the Chambers at XXIV Old Buildings, Lincoln’s Inn in London. He was called to the Bar in 1968 and took Silk in 1983. He specialises in International and domestic litigation and arbitration, in the fields of commercial, civil fraud and asset tracing, company, financial services and structured investments, insolvency, trusts and business law. A substantial proportion of his practice involves cross border litigation.

4. Sir Alex Allan KCB has had a long career at the highest levels of the civil service, including as Principal Private Secretary (Chief of Staff) to the Prime Minister and to the Chancellor of the Exchequer; Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Justice; High Commissioner to Australia; and Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee. He is
currently the Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests.

5. Quinton Quayle is a retired British Diplomat, He entered the Foreign Office in 1977. He served as British Ambassador to Romania from 2002 until 2006, after which he was concurrently appointed as Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Kingdom of Thailand and (nonresident) Ambassador to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic.

6. For further information please contact the QC Appointments Secretariat on 020 7831 0020