QC promotions down as 88 take silk

Of the 214 barristers who applied for QC status, 40 were women, of whom 23 were successful. At the commercial bar this included Brick Court Chambers’ Marie Demetriou, who appeared for the England and Wales Cricket Board in British Sky Broadcasting’s (BSkyB) case against Ofcom (3 January 2011); Maitland Chambers’ Rebecca Stubbs, who is involved with litigation spiralling out of the Lehman Brothers collapse (4 August 2010); and 4 New Square’s Anneliese Day.

The selection committee did not promote either of the two solicitor advocates who applied. Last year, solicitor advocate David Price of David Price Solicitors & Advocates was the sole solicitor to take silk.

Of the total number of applicants, 15 were non-white, of whom six were successful.

Three barristers aged over 50 and four applicants who declared disability were made up.

Chair of the QC selection panel Professor Dame Joan Higgins said: “The quality of applicants was again extremely high. Each year the panel has the difficult task of identifying excellent advocates on the evidence.  We take our responsibilities very seriously. Each applicant is discussed by the full panel and all applications receive the closest consideration and scrutiny.”

For more on the silk selection process see The 2010-11 Silk Round: Raw silk

The full list of this year’s new silks is: