Not a single solicitor was appointed King’s Counsel in the latest annual round, unveiled last Friday. Ninety-six barristers made the silk cut. The Law Society has said it is ‘extremely disappointed’. So what’s going on? I took a look at the statistics.
A solicitor strike-out is rare, but not unprecedented. Since solicitors became eligible for silk in 1995, none was appointed in 1996, 2000 and 2012. Just one made the grade in 10 different years.
The 2025 competition can, however, be counted as the worst on record. Nine solicitors applied this time. In 2001, another grim year, 12 solicitors applied – but one did get through.
Chancery Lane’s annoyance doubtless reflects the fact that the hit rate did trend upward for some years amid periodical efforts by QC (now KC) Appointments to encourage more solicitors to apply. Between 2007 and 2013, only eight solicitors were appointed QC. In the six years up to and including 2021, by contrast, an average of five solicitors were appointed every year.
No one seems to have mentioned Covid being a factor. More pertinent, surely, is a sharp fall in the number of solicitor applications. In 2021, for example, 21 solicitors applied for silk. In 2023, just seven did so, falling to five in 2024.
Of course, in what I will call the ‘boom years’, those solicitors who did take silk were overwhelmingly arbitration specialists at international firms, where profitability has rocketed. For them, as I pointed out in this space last year, the ever-rising cost of applications and the onerous assessment process were never the insuperable deterrents traditionally cited by solicitors with less in the way of workplace support (and funds). Has the KC badge become a nice-to-have rather than a must-have, as their pay soars anyway? Not necessarily. All nine applicants this time were civil practitioners and almost all are international arbitrators, KC Appointments tells me.
All failed applicants get personalised feedback, so perhaps some will try again. KC Appointments stressed that it also offers webinars where prospective applicants can engage with members of the selection panel. There is even a new ‘informational video’ for solicitor advocates on its website.
‘We also continue to work closely with the Law Society to ensure that our work on outreach, equality, diversity and inclusion complements theirs,’ the body added.
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