This year’s 2024 round of King’s Counsel appointments saw only one solicitor advocate take silk – in line with each of the last two years and down from five in the 2021 round and six in the 2020 round.
Sheila Ahuja (pictured) became the sole solicitor advocate to take silk this year. Singapore-based Ahuja co-heads the India group at A&O Shearman, and is recognised as a Legal 500 leading partner for arbitration in Singapore.
‘I am truly honoured to receive this recognition and am deeply grateful to my family, friends, colleagues and clients for their unwavering support’, said Ahuja in a statement.
This marked the third year in a row that saw only one solicitor advocate take silk, with Ahuja following Withers public international law head and international arbitration co-head Hussein Haeri last year and Herbert Smith Freehills arbitration specialist Mike McClure the year before.
Five solicitors applied to take silk this year – down from seven in the 2023 round and eight in the 2022 round.
105 KCs were appointed this year, up from 95 last year. The total success rate dipped slightly, however, down to 32% from just under 34% last year.
Women again outperformed men, with a 39% success rate compared to 30% for men. 38% of woman applicants and 32% of men took silk last year, compared to 47% and 29% in the 2022 round and 63% and 28% in the 2021 round. The gap between women’s success rate and men’s reached its highest point in 2021, when 63% of women who applied and 28% of men took silk.
At the same time, the gender balance of the new KCs favoured men, with 72 men taking silk (69% of the total) and 33 women (31%). Last year saw 65 new men appointed KC (68% of the total) and 30 women (32%).
The new silks included 18 applicants who declared an ethnic origin other than white – a 30% success rate, up from 27% last year but down from 33% in the 2022 round and 40% in the 2021 round – as well as eight applicants who declared a disability (42% success rate).
None of a total of ten Black applicants took silk this year, along with none of the five employed barristers who applied.
Doughty Street Chambers and Essex Court Chambers were the most successful sets this year, with five new KCs apiece, including Doughty Street’s Tony Vaughan KC, who was elected to parliament last year for the Labour Party as the MP for Folkestone and Hythe.
Other sets with multiple appointments include 23 Essex Street, 6KBW College Hill, Essex Court Chambers, and Landmark Chambers, each with four new silks.
‘I would like to offer my congratulations to all the new silks announced today’, said chair of the selection panel Monisha Shah in a statement. ‘The selection process is a rigorous and demanding one and I believe that every one of these new silks will be a credit to their profession.’
She continued: ‘I am particularly pleased to note the many successful applicants from a range of diverse backgrounds including minoritised communities and those with disabilities. However, we continue to be concerned about the lack of success of black applicants and the challenges they face to demonstrate their excellence in the higher courts of England and Wales in the course of their careers.’
alexander.ryan@legalbusiness.co.uk
Full list of 2024 round silks:
Name | Set or firm |
---|---|
Adam Wagner | Doughty Street Chambers |
Adrian Berry | Garden Court Chambers |
Alex Barden | Fountain Court Chambers |
Alexander Brown | One Essex Court Chambers |
Alison Easton | Coram Chambers |
Amy Mannion | 1 Crown Office Row Brighton |
Andrew Fenn | Atkin Chambers |
Angharad Parry | Twenty Essex |
Anton Dudnikov | Essex Court Chambers |
Azeem Suterwalla | Monckton Chambers |
Ben Bradley | Outer Temple Chambers |
Bilal Rawat | 5 Essex Chambers |
Cameron Crowe | Gough Square Chambers |
Cecilia Ivimy | 11 KBW |
Charles Langley | 2 Bedford Row |
Ciaran Keller | Essex Court Chambers |
Danny Moore | Six Pump Court |
David Bedenham | 11 KBW |
David Rhodes | Doughty Street Chambers |
David Walsh | Essex Court Chambers |
Donald Lilly | 4 Stone Buildings |
Edward Craven | Matrix Chambers |
Edward Harrison | Brick Court Chambers |
Edward Kemp | Matrix Chambers |
Emily James | 1GC | Family Law |
Emma Zeb | Gatehouse Chambers |
Fraser Campbell | Blackstone Chambers |
Geoffrey Pritchard | Three New Square |
George Thomas | Serjeants’ Inn Chambers |
Geraldine Kelly | New Park Court Chambers |
Gerard Hillman | Libertas Chambers |
Gillian Batts | Park Square Barristers Ltd. |
Harriet Townsend | Cornerstone Barristers |
Ian McLoughlin | Red Lion Chambers |
Imran Afzal | Field Court Tax Chambers |
Jacob Dean | 5RB |
Jacqueline Renton | 4PB |
James Berry | Serjeants’ Inn Chambers |
James Bloomer | 23ES |
Jane Russell | Essex Court Chambers |
Jason Pobjoy | Blackstone Chambers |
Jason Robinson | 7 King’s Bench Walk |
Jennifer Josephs | St Philips Chambers |
Jodie Mittell | 3PB |
John-Paul Swoboda | 12 King’s Bench Walk |
Jonathan Price | Doughty Street Chambers |
Julia Smyth | Landmark Chambers |
Justin Kitson | Selborne Chambers |
Kathryn Pickard | 11 South Square |
Katie Phillips | 42BR Barristers |
Laura Poots | Pump Court Tax Chambers |
Lesley Bates | 23ES |
Marika Lemos | Devereux |
Matthew Morrison | Serle Court |
Michael Walsh | Serle Court |
Michelle Menashy | One Essex Court |
Naina Patel | Blackstone Chambers |
Naomi Madderson | Crown Chambers |
Nathaniel Duckworth | Falcon Chambers |
Nicholas Dunham | Foundry Chambers |
Nicholas Yeo | Three Raymond Buildings |
Niranjan Venkatesan | One Essex Court |
Oliver Cook | Libertas Chambers |
Oliver Powell | Outer Temple Chambers |
Paul Jarvis | 6KBW College Hill |
Peter Caldwell | Doughty Street Chambers |
Peter Mant | 39 Essex Chambers |
Rachel Scott | Three Raymond Buildings |
Rachel Spearing | Serjeants’ Inn Chambers |
Rebecca Harris | QEB Hollis Whiteman |
Rebecca Page | Maitland Chambers |
Richard Coplin | Keating Chambers |
Richard English | Lincoln House Chambers |
Richard Jones | 1GC | Family Law |
Rob George | Harcourt Chambers |
Robert Mundy | St Philips Chambers |
Rupert Allen | Fountain Court Chambers |
Ruth Hughes | 5 Stone Buildings |
Samuel Skinner | The 36 Group |
Sasha Blackmore | Landmark Chambers |
Sassa-Ann Amaouche | 29 Bedford Row Chambers |
Simon Allison | Landmark Chambers |
Simon Hale | 4 Pump Court |
Simon Ray | 6KBW College Hill |
Stuart Biggs | Cloth Fair Chambers |
Tariq Baloch | Essex Court |
Thomas Robinson | Wilberforce Chambers |
Tim Forte | 3TG Barristers |
Tom Cross | 11 KBW |
Tom Walkling | St Philips Chambers |
Wayne Clark | Falcon Chambers |
William Edwards | 3 Verulam Buildings |
Zack Simons | Landmark Chambers |
Flora Page | 23ES |
Francis McGrath | 23ES |
James Brown | 5KBW |
Kate Wilkinson | 6KBW College Hill |
Lawrence Selby | 9BR Chambers |
Melanie Cumberland | 6KBW College Hill |
Nakul Dewan | Twenty Essex |
Sheila Ahuja | A&O Shearman |
Simon Wilshire | 4BB |
Thomas Schofield | No5 Barristers’ Chambers |
Anthony Vaughan | Doughty Street Chambers |
Dan Feetham KC | 3 Hare Court |