Allen & Overy and Irwin Mitchell’s senior partners Guy Beringer and Michael Napier have both been appointed as honorary QCs in the first honoris causa awards made since the introduction of a new silk system.
Beringer and Napier are among six honorary QCs who will receive their awards on Monday (16 October) at the QC appointments ceremony in Westminster Hall, alongside the 175 new silks whose appointments were announced in July.
Beringer receives his award for his contribution to pro bono work and advancing international trade in legal services. Napier is also recognised for his pro bono work, in addition to his work for the Law Society and Civil Justice Council and his efforts in ensuring that those injured in disasters have effective representation.
The other honorary QCs include Sir Geoffrey Bowman, who recently retired from the position of First Parliamentary Counsel and former Serious Fraud Office director Rosalind Wright.
Professor Paul Lyndon Davies, professor of commercial law at the London School of Economics who worked on the Company Law Review, and Professor Dame Hazel Genn, the civil justice expert who is professor of socio-legal studies at University College London, are also recognised.
The honorary silks were selected by a panel chaired by Alex Allan, Permanent Secretary for the Department of Constitutional Affairs. It considered nominations from the legal profession, the judiciary, and the Society of Legal Scholars before passing its recommendations on to Lord Falconer, the Lord Chancellor. The appointments were also approved by the Queen.
