New family law King's Counsel announced

The appointments of 95 new King’s Counsel were announced by the Ministry of Justice.

These appointments are made by His Majesty The King on the advice of the Lord Chancellor, Alex Chalk KC MP, following consideration by the independent King’s Counsel (KC) Selection Panel.

Monisha Shah, Chair of the Selection Panel, said today: “I would like to offer my congratulations to all the new silks announced today. 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. The competency framework for the award of King’s Counsel is set by the Professions. It is heavily dependent on the strength of the evidence provided by leaders and peers about each applicant.

The submission of honest, evidence-based assessments is pivotal to the work of the Selection Panel. On behalf of the panel, I would like to thank the nearly 2000 assessors who provided assessments to the Selection Panel this year. We continue to monitor the number of applications received from a diverse range of backgrounds and seek to ensure that our process is as clear and transparent as possible. To that end, we seek feedback and offer a range of events and webinars where prospective applicants can meet with members of the panel and engage with them directly.

I am reassured that the number of applications we received this year are indicative of the clarity of our process and a confidence in our system. The KC award for excellence is based on evidence from assessors. We do not operate quotas for appointment; however we continue to monitor diversity data closely and while I would not expect successful applications from those with protected characteristics to increase each and every year, I am pleased to note that application rates from people of minority ethnic backgrounds and female applicants are strong and the number of successful applications remain broadly in line with the eligible population.”