A total of 107 new QCs have been appointed in this year’s silk appointments round, including 25 women.
The number of appointments is at a five-year high, after four years of 100 or fewer new silks. However the proportion of women appointed has dropped compared to last year, when the same number of new female QCs were named.
Overall, 45 per cent of the 238 applicants were successful, an increase on 2014/15 when 42 per cent were given QC status.
The new QCs include three solicitor-advocates: Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan’s arbitration head Stephen Jagusch, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer London arbitration head Nigel Rawding, and Gibson Dunn & Crutcher arbitration co-chair Penny Madden.
Jagusch joined Quinn Emanuel in 2012 from Allen & Overy to head up the US litigation boutique’s arbitration practice.
The trio were among nine solicitor-advocates to apply for silk this year.
While 52 per cent of female applicants were successful, the selection panel chair Helen Pitcher said the panel remained “concerned that the number of female applicants remains stubbornly low”.
Black and minority ethnic (BAME) applicants made up 14 per cent of applications, an increase from previous years. Their success rate was lower than for all applicants with 28 per cent of BAME applicants appointed.
The youngest new silk is 34 and the oldest 57 and call dates range from 1980 to 2009.
The new silk called in 2009 is Brick Court Chambers’ Thomas Plewman SC, who was appointed senior counsel in South Africa in 2008. Scottish silk Andrew Smith of Crown Office Chambers, called to the English bar in 1998, was also named silk in England and Wales in this year’s round.
Other notable appointments include Serle Court’s Daniel Lightman, who was named in The Lawyer’s Hot 100 in 2013, and Serjeant’s Inn’s Bridget Dolan, winner of Barrister of the Year at The Lawyer Awards 2015.
1 Crown Office Row has scooped the most new silks with six appointments.
QC appointments statistics
Year | Number of applicants | Number of successful applicants | Proportion of applicants who were successful (%) |
---|---|---|---|
2015/16 | 238 | 107 | 45.1 |
2014/15 | 223 | 93 | 41.7 |
2013/14 | 225 | 100 | 44.4 |
2012/13 | 183 | 84 | 45.9 |
2011/12 | 214 | 88 | 41.1 |
2010/11 | 251 | 120 | 47.8 |
2009/10 | 275 | 129 | 46.9 |
2008/09 | 247 | 104 | 42.1 |
2007/08 | 333 | 98 | 29.4 |
2006/07 | 443 | 175 | 39.5 |
The new silks:
Name | Chambers | Practice area | Year of call |
James Abrahams | 8 New Square | IP | 1997 |
Jayne Adams | Ropewalk Chambers | Personal injury | 1982 |
Jonathan Ashley-Norman | 3 Raymond Buildings | White collar crime | 1989 |
Duncan Atkinson | 6KBW College Hill | Crime | 1995 |
Daniel Bayfield | South Square | Restructuring | 1998 |
Michael Bedford | Cornerstone | Planning | 1985 |
Terence Bergin | 4 Pump Court | IT | 1985 |
Alexander Booth | Francis Taylor Building | Planning | 2000 |
Clodagh Bradley | 1 Crown Office Row | Healthcare | 1996 |
Kerry Bretherton | Tanfield | Public/property | 1992 |
Lisa Busch | Landmark | Planning | 2000 |
Paul Cairnes | No 5 | Planning | 1980 |
Douglas Campbell | Three New Square | IP | 1993 |
Aidan Casey | 3 Hare Court | Fraud | 1992 |
Ian Clarke | Selborne | Commercial | 1990 |
Giles Cockings | Furnival | Crime | 1996 |
Jonathan Cohen | Littleton | Employment and commercial | 1999 |
Ben Collins | Old Square | Employment | 1996 |
Jonathan Davey | Wilberforce | Chancery | 2003 |
Emma Deacon | 5 Paper Buildings | Crime | 1993 |
Bridget Dolan | Serjeant’s Inn | Healthcare and police | 1997 |
Richard Edwards | 3VB | Commercial | 1993 |
Catrin Evans | One Brick Court | Media | 1994 |
Philip Evans | QEB Hollis Whiteman | Crime | 1995 |
James Ewins | Queen Elizabeth Building | Family | 1996 |
Gerry Facenna | Monckton | Public and commercial | 2001 |
Shaheed Fatima | Blackstone | Public | 2001 |
Adam Feest | 3PB | Crime | 1994 |
Simon Fox | No 5 | Healthcare | 1994 |
Kim Franklin | Crown Office | Projects | 1984 |
Oliver Glasgow | 2 Hare Court | Crime | 1995 |
Katie Gollop | Serjeant’s Inn | Clinical negligence | 1993 |
Siobhan Grey | Doughty Street | Crime | 1994 |
Richard Ground | Cornerstone | Planning | 1994 |
Nicholas Grundy | Five Paper | Property | 1993 |
Mark Harper | Kings | Partnership law | 1993 |
John Harrison | St Pauls | Health and safety | 1994 |
David Head | 3VB | Commercial | 1997 |
Ian Henderson | Farrington | Crime | 1990 |
Alexander Hickey | 4 Pump Court | Construction | 1995 |
Jonathan Hilliard | Wilberforce | Trusts and commercial | 2003 |
Thomas Hinchliffe | Three New Square | IP | 1997 |
Michael Horne | Serjeant’s Inn | Clinical negligence | 1992 |
Riaz Hussain | Atkin | Construction | 2001 |
Jeremy Hyam | 1 Crown Office Row | Health and public | 1995 |
Michael Ivers | Garden Court | Crime | 1991 |
Stephen Jagusch | Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan | Arbitration | NA |
Alan Johns | Maitland | Property | 1994 |
Nicholas Johnson | Exchange | Fraud | 1994 |
Brian Kennelly | Blackstone | Public and commercial | 1999 |
Julian Kenny | 20 Essex Street | Commercial | 1997 |
Simon Kilvington | Byrom Street | Personal injury | 1995 |
Richard Kimblin | No 5 | Planning | 1998 |
Cyrus Larizadeh | 4 Paper Buildings | Public | 1992 |
William Latimer-Sayer | Cloisters | Personal injury | 1995 |
Sarah Lee | Brick Court | Public EU | 1990 |
Maya Lester | Brick Court | Public EU | 2000 |
Daniel Lightman | Serle Court | Commercial and Chancery | 1995 |
Penny Madden | Gibson Dunn & Crutcher | Arbitration | NA |
Peter Makepeace | Dere Street Barristers | Crime | 1998 |
Simon Malynicz | Three New Square | IP | 1997 |
Hannah Markham | 36 Bedford Row | Children | 1998 |
James Maxwell-Scott | Crown Office | Criminal regulatory | 1995 |
Cathryn McGahey | Temple Garden | Public | 1990 |
John McKendrick | Outer Temple | Public and commercial | 1999 |
Kama Melly | Park Square | Crime | 1997 |
Paul Mitchell | Hailsham | Professional negligence | 1999 |
David Mohyuddin | Exchange | Insolvency | 1999 |
Thomas Moody-Stuart | 8 New Square | IP | 1995 |
Salim Moollan | Essex Court | Commercial | 1998 |
Andrew Moran | Serle Court | Commercial | 1989 |
Stephen Moses | Furnival | Crime | 1997 |
David Mumford | Maitland | Commercial and Chancery | 2000 |
Andrew Norton | 1 Garden Court | Family | 1992 |
Derek O’Sullivan | 39 Essex | Personal injury | 1990 |
Paul Ozin | 23 Essex Street | Crime | 1987 |
Tim Penny | Wilberforce | Commercial | 1988 |
Steven Perian | 3 Temple Gardens | Crime | 1987 |
Rosalind Phelps | Fountain Court | Commercial | 1998 |
Thomas Plewman | Brick Court | Commercial | 2009 |
Charles Prest | Park Square | Children | 2005 |
Anya Proops | 11 KBW | Media and human rights | 1998 |
James Ramsden | 39 Essex | Commercial | 1987 |
Nigel Rawding | Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer | Arbitration | NA |
Toby Riley-Smith | Henderson | Commercial | 1995 |
Caroline Shea | Falcon Chambers | Real estate and agriculture | 1994 |
Clare Sibson | Cloth Fair | Crime | 1997 |
Peter Skelton | 1 Crown Office Row | Public | 1997 |
Andrew Smith | Crown Office | Personal injury | 1998 |
Dan Squires | Matrix | Public and human rights | 1998 |
Harry Steinberg | 12 King’s Bench | Personal injury | 1997 |
Sudhanshu Swaroop | 20 Essex Street | Commercial | 1997 |
Louise Sweet | Carmelite | Crime | 1994 |
Laurent Sykes | Gray’s Inn Tax Chambers | Tax | 2007 |
Kennedy Talbot | 33 Chancery Lane | Fraud | 1984 |
Daniel Tatton-Brown | Littleton | Employment | 1994 |
Owain Thomas | 1 Crown Office Row | Public and professional negligence | 1995 |
Justine Thornton | 39 Essex | Environment and planning | 1994 |
Ben Valentin | Fountain Court | Commercial | 1995 |
Guy Vassall-Adams | Matrix | Media | 2000 |
Aidan Vine | Harcourt | Family | 1995 |
Tom Weekes | Landmark | Property | 1995 |
Adam Weitzman | 7BR | Personal injury | 1993 |
Marina Wheeler | 1 Crown Office Row | Public | 1987 |
Gemma White | Blackstone | Public | 1994 |
Richard Wilson | 3 Stone Buildings | Chancery | 1996 |
Henry Witcomb | 1 Crown Office Row | Clinical negligence | 1989 |