Time for change on QCs
Another silk round, another year of solicitor applicants faring poorly and Captain Irvine standing proudly aboard the good ship Patronage, holding his telescope to a closed eye.
Since solicitors were first allowed to seek the rank of QC in 1996, just eight out of 63 applicants have made it (12% compared to 17% of barristers).
Even if, as is surely the case, the unsuccessful 55 were turned down quite properly, justice is not necessarily being seen to be done.
But the question of solicitors is just a small part of the debate about the QC system and the Lord Chancellor's role in it, both of which have faced growing criticism in recent years.
Even the bar is starting to move against them, with some barristers speaking out publicly and the draft report of a Bar Council working party saying that QCs should be appointed on the recommendation of an independent panel.
This month, Lord Irvine told the Lord Chancellor's Department select committee that he would consult on the issue - surprisingly, given that we still await the outcome of the department's In the Public Interest? consultation, which has QCs as one of its five heads.
But answers to recent Parliamentary questions indicate that Lord Irvine is still behind the system.
His stance leaves him increasingly isolated.
As our feature on page 18 shows, Lord Irvine has made welcome strides in reforming the judicial appointments process, even if there is still some way to go.
QCs should be next.
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