Maitland and Essex Court stand out at commercial Bar amid a strong year for publicly-funded advocates

Three sets of barristers' chambers will each gain four new queen's counsel (QC) next month as part of a 2011 silk round that saw applicants enjoy the highest success rate since 1995.

The 120-strong round saw barristers from 76 chambers across the country securing the elite QC kitemark, with No5 Chambers, Thirty Nine Essex Street/82 King Street and Maitland Chambers all achieving the highest share of successful applicants, with four apiece.

Maitland sees Richard Morgan, Amanda Tipples, Michael Gibbon and Andrew Walker, all of whom specialise in Chancery, make QC, while the
appointments from Thirty Nine Essex Street include public law barristers Lisa Giovannetti, Eleanor Grey (pictured) and Jenni Richards as well as insurance specialist Rohan Pershad. No5 sees criminal barristers Simon Drew, Michael Duck and Adrian Keeling appointed to QC alongside David Lock in public law.

This year's round was considered as generally weighted towards publicly-funded work, with many of London's heavyweight commercial sets such as One Essex Court, Fountain Court, Blackstone Chambers and Wilberforce Chambers receiving just one new QC each. Exceptions to this rule saw Essex Court Chambers receive three silks while Brick Court Chambers received two.

All 120 new QCs will pay nearly £7,000 for the privilege of their new appointment, with the application fee standing at £2,585 including value-added tax (VAT) and the appointment fee costing a further £4,200 including VAT. The process generally requires candidates to have worked on 12 substantive cases in the last two years, with applicants providing 24 referees – 12 of whom must be from the judiciary.

Application fees were introduced for the 2006 round when the QC system was reformed and relaunched as a self-financing independent kitemark, ending the Lord Chancellor's Department's historic role in bestowing the rank.

Maitland's Morgan QC said: "There comes a point in your career when you feel ready to apply for silk and, in the year or so leading up to that point, you become more aware that you are losing work to QCs because of the difference in status. If you are successful, there may often be no immediate impact on fees, but it provides you with the gravitas to retain big cases and increases client confidence."

In total, the QC selection panel received 251 applications this year, equating to a 48% success rate. While the success rate figure is only marginally up on last year's 47% equivalent, it marks the highest success rate since 1995. However, the total number of appointments is slightly down on the 2010 silk round, when 129 lawyers were appointed as QC.

The round saw five solicitor advocates applying for silk, with two successful candidates – SJ Berwin Dubai-based litigation partner Tim Taylor, and David Price of David Price Solicitors & Advocates.

While the overall number of solicitor advocates included in the round remains relatively small, the 2011 success rate is significantly higher than in 2010, when there was one new appointment out of 10 applicants – a trend QCs expect to continue.

Deputy head of No5 Chambers Ian Dove QC said: "The round as a whole has a lot of good-quality people in it and I also welcome the appointment of the solicitors. The Bar is increasingly competing with solicitors who are doing high-profile advocacy work."

Breaking down the appointments, the number of women awarded QC status increased to 27 from 20 in 2009-10 and 16 in 2008-09. The number of female applicants, however, decreased to 41 from 46 last year.

Twelve applicants who declared an ethnic origin other than white were successful. The figure is down on the 2010 equivalent of 17; however, only 20 ethnic minority candidates applied this year compared with 35 candidates in 2010.

Commenting on the overall 2011 round, Monckton Chambers head Paul Lasok QC said: "This silk round was a strong one. Things are very different now compared to how they used to be, when fewer people would be appointed per chamber, because there was a fear that it could leave a set unevenly weighted and with a lack of senior juniors. Appointments nowadays are much more a reflection of the individual than the set."

Click here for a full breakdown of all the chambers receiving two or more silks.