Latham and SH cheer as latest silk round bountiful for Red Lion and Garden Court

Arbitrators dominate solicitor appointments amid creation of 119 new silks as Latham does double

Red Lion Chambers and Garden Court Chambers saw six and five of their respective barristers take silk in this year’s QC appointments round, while the number of successful solicitors becoming QCs dipped from last year.

Shane Collery, Jennifer Dempster, Tom Forster, Barnaby Jameson, David Walbank and Adam Wiseman were all selected from Red Lion in December, doubling the number appointed from the set last year.

From Garden Court, Brenda Campbell, Gul Nawaz Mahboob Hussain, Sonali Naik, Clare Wade and Amanda Weston were all made up.

Elite London set Brick Court Chambers surprisingly saw only one barrister, Nicholas Saunders, take silk this year. In last year’s appointments, Brick Court saw four of its barristers selected, the joint-highest number with 39 Essex Chambers.

The overall number of QCs appointed rose slightly from 113 to 119, reflecting a jump in applicants from 254 to 272.

Last year saw the number of solicitor advocates double from three to six, but the figure has slipped to five this time round, just 4% of successful applicants.

One clerk says: ‘I’m not sure solicitor-advocates go down that well in the Bar, the fact they have been made silk without training. But it’s certainly harder for a solicitor-advocate to get the referees they require.’

Stephenson Harwood’s arbitration head Louis Flannery, one of the handful made up this year, told Legal Business: ‘It’s very hard for any solicitor to put together 12 cases going back three years which has to be substantial in terms of value. You are effectively restricting it to very busy practitioners who are doing their advocacy. Then again, it’s not designed to be encouraging. It’s a sign they want to keep the standards very high.’

Four out of the five solicitor appointments, apart from high-profile criminal specialist Imran Khan, were for advocates regularly or entirely covering arbitration. US giant Latham & Watkins saw two of its advocates named, Philip Clifford and Sophie Lamb, the much-tipped rising star recruited in 2016 from Debevoise & Plimpton.

Flannery added: ‘The [successful solicitor advocates] are doing advocacy exclusively in a tribunal setting due to the arbitration experience. Unless you are a practitioner with a lot of cases you haven’t got a chance. The process is unbelievably rigorous.’

Men made up 73% of those taking silk, however, women tended to be more successful on average, with 64% of women being selected compared to 39% of men. The 64% female success rate is a marked increase on last year when 55% of women were appointed.

The number of ethnic minorities taking silk rose slightly from 16 to 18, making up 12% of the total. The number of successful ethnic minority applicants grew despite a drop in the number of applicants, from 37 to 33. The awards were announced on 21 December.

Sir Alex Allan, chair of the QC selection panel, said: ‘We remain concerned that the number of female applicants remains comparatively low, but I am pleased that of those women who did apply, over 60% were successful. I was also pleased to note that 18 BAME applicants were appointed, a record number.’

If all that sounds a bit drily statistical for something as storied as the QC rank, Flannery says that a win is emotional for even the most hard-bitten advocate, concluding: ‘I’m not ashamed to say I blubbed when I found out!’

tom.baker@legalease.co.uk