The Law Society and Bar Council generally present a united front to politicians, but relations were not ever so cordial. Twenty-five years ago, a furious spat erupted when Chancery Lane called on Tony Blair’s government to abolish the (then) rank of Queen’s Counsel. President Robert Sayers railed against the ‘old boys’ network’ that created ‘an artificial market for an exclusive group’.
This was despite solicitors becoming eligible for silk in 1995. Sayers and the Society were particularly exercised by ‘a system for appointing judges more appropriate to the 19th century than the 21st’.
The old ‘secret soundings’ system for choosing the elite cadre of advocates was frozen in 2003 after the Office of Fair Trading branded it uncompetitive. After some tortuous politicking, which spawned the creation of independent body QC Appointments, the silk system survived. It remains the bar’s imprimatur of professional excellence and earning power.
But what of solicitors? Applying for silk has always been a niche pursuit among the relatively small corps of solicitor-advocates. But QC (now KC) Appointments periodically encouraged more solicitors to apply. These pleas met with – albeit modest – success. Between 2008 and 2012, for example, only six solicitors were appointed QC. In 2018, six solicitors took silk in one year.
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That trend has reversed. Just one solicitor has been appointed in each of the last three silk rounds. Fewer solicitors are applying, too. Why?
There is no easy answer, but look at the profile of those solicitors who do take silk. They are overwhelmingly arbitration specialists at international firms, where profitability has rocketed. For them, the ever-rising cost of applications and the onerous assessment process were never the insuperable deterrents traditionally cited by solicitors with less in the way of workplace support (and funds).
Could it be that, nevertheless, the perceived value of the designation has diminished for City mega-earners? Is it worth the time and effort of getting the ‘badge’, when you are already on the upper rungs of a very different career ladder to the bar?
The Law Society said it is talking to KC Appointments to encourage more suitably qualified candidates to come forward and ‘gain the recognition their skills deserve’.
We shall see from the numbers, but I suspect this will not be easy.
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