Queen's Counsel

A Queen's Counsel is a senior member of the legal profession. Until recently only barristers could become Queen's Counsel, but when in the mid-1990s solicitors acquired the right to plead in the Higher Courts (previously the exclusive preserve of barristers), they too became eligible for appointment as Queen's Counsel, and today there are some, though not many, solicitors who are Queen's Counsel. (See further barrister - solicitor.)

'Queen's Counsel' is abbreviated to QC, and this abbreviation may be used either as a common noun, as in 'John Smith became a QC last year', or after a lawyer's name to indicate his or her status as a Queen's Counsel, as in 'John Smith QC'. When the sovereign is not female but male, Queen's Counsel become King's Counsel (abbreviated to KC). The expression Queen's Counsel' does not take an '-s' in the plural, though the abbreviated form 'QC' does. Hence we say 'John Smith and Jane Stephens are both Queen's Counsel', but 'John Smith and Jane Stevens are both 'QCs'.

There have been Queen's Counsel for more than four centuries, the first Queen's Counsel being the statesman and philosopher Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626), who in 1597 was granted certain rights of precedence over other lawyers by Queen Elizabeth I (reigned 1558-1603) and who in 1603 became a King's Counsel on the death of Elizabeth and the accession of King James I (of England, VI of Scotland, reigned 1603-1625). Originally lawyers appointed Queen's Counsel were expected to carry out legal work in court on behalf of the sovereign, and they needed special permission, e.g., to appear for the defence in criminal cases (where the prosecution would have been brought by the Crown). Nowadays there are no restrictions on the types of legal work a QC may undertake, and the appointment is primarily a mark of a lawyer's status and prestige within the profession.

In 2003 the appointment of QCs was suspended and the government considered the possible abolition of the system. However, the legal profession strongly opposed abolition and the system has now been reinstated, though, to ensure that appointments are made strictly on the basis of merit and to exclude any suspicion of political bias, they are no longer made by the Lord Chancellor (i.e., a member of the government), but by an independent panel of assessors.

In court a QC is entitled to wear a distinctive silk gown and to sit within the bar of the court (see further Called within the bar), and must always be assisted by another barrister (known as a 'junior'). Hence alternative, more informal, expressions which mean to become a QC are 'to take silk' and, less commonly, 'to be called within the bar'. A QC is also sometimes referred to as 'a silk'.

For a note on spelling, see Council - counsel.