Legal Business Blogs

A&O Shearman only firm to pick up new KC as silk appointments rise

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