The annual round of QC appointments has been announced today (29 February), with Clyde & Co senior partner Michael Payton awarded honorary QC status.

Payton (pictured) has been senior partner of Clydes since 1984 and has steered the firm through much of its growth in recent years, including its merger with legacy Barlow Lyde & Gilbert last November.

Blackstone Chambers, 7 King's Bench Walk and Doughty Street Chambers are among the most successful chambers in this year's round, with all three housing a trio of newly appointed silks.

Eighty-eight of a total of 214 applicants have been awarded QC status, equating to a success rate of 41%, the lowest since 2008, when just 29% made the grade. The last three years have seen 48%, 47% and 42% of applicants successfully secure silk status, including 120 QCs appointed last year.

The number of female barristers appointed has also fallen this year to 23, down from 27 in 2010-11. Forty women applied for QC status this year, equating to a 58% success rate. Six candidates who declared an ethnic origin other than white were successful, down on the 12 appointed last year, while no solicitor-advocates have been awarded the elite kitemark after just two applied.

SJ Berwin's Tim Taylor QC said: "It is a high threshold for any solicitor-advocate to have 12 judicial referees spanning 12 cases of over £1m (or with important points at issue) over a 24-month period.

"The problem is that it takes courage for solicitors to do their own advocacy in major commercial cases in the High Court – it's easier to disinstruct a barrister than to sack yourself when it goes wrong. Solicitors whose practice is solely focused on arbitration can try to get away with just naming arbitrators as judicial referees, and three or four have probably got silk that way in the past.

"Apart from that (and crime which is a different story), I don't see the number of solicitor-advocate applicants growing dramatically over the coming years."

This year's round is largely made up of civil barristers, with a notable lack of criminal appointments amid much uncertainty at the criminal Bar in light of the Government's controversial legal aid reforms.

Fountain Court head Timothy Dutton said: "It is not surprising that there have been lower numbers of criminal barristers awarded silk this year, with the current pressures on legal aid funding and reduced grants of QC certificates by courts. And it is an expensive process. I don't think the overall reduction in the number of appointments is a concern. Numbers will fluctuate from year to year and the number has actually been noticeably higher in recent times."

The youngest successful applicant in this year's round is 37 years old, with the oldest 62.

Brick Court Chambers co-head Jonathan Hirst QC said: "There are a number of high-skilled commercial juniors on the list who are very well deserving, but the reduced overall number of appointments is a positive thing I think as it retains the standard of the mark.

"The large number of civil barristers awarded silk in comparison to criminal is a further indication of the pressure that the criminal bar is under at the present moment in light of the legal aid changes – candidates are having to think long and hard about applying for silk right now."

Alongside Payton, Bindmans head of public law and human rights Stephen Grosz was also recognised among the group of five to receive honorary QC status. The honorary QC award is made to lawyers who have made a major contribution to the law of England & Wales outside practice in the courts.

The news comes after former Clifford Chance senior partner Stuart Popham was awarded honourary QC status last year, while solicitor-advocates David Price of media law boutique David Price Solicitors and Advocates and SJ Berwin litigation partner Tim Taylor were also appointed.

2012 QC appointments in full

Lawrence Mark Akka, 20 Essex Street
Jacques Max Algazy, Cloisters Chambers
Zafar Abbas Ali, 23 Essex Street
Tracey Anne Angus, 5 Stone Buildings
Kieron Conrad Beal, Blackstone Chambers
Gary Terence Bell, No5 Chambers
Ranjit Bhose, Cornerstone Barristers
Deborah Jane Bickerstaff, 9 Bedford Row
Katherine Elizabeth Blackwell, Lincoln House Chambers
Michael David Bools, Brick Court
Paul Edward Bowen, Doughty Street Chambers
Damian Robert Brown, Littleton Chambers
Ceri Bryant, Erskine Chambers
Andrew Thomas Cayley, Doughty Street Chambers
Richard James Lee Coleman, Fountain Court
James Douglas Collins, Essex Court
Edmund William Hector Cullen, Maitland
Adrian Munro Darbishire, QEB Hollis Whiteman
Adam David Davis, Dyers Chambers
Anneliese Mary Day, 4 New Square
Thomas Orlando De La Mare, Blackstone Chambers
Marie-Eleni Eliza Demetriou, Brick Court
Benjamin Michael Gordon Elkington, 4 New Square
David Lewis Evans, One Crown Office Row
Caspar Hilary Gordon Glyn, Cloisters Chambers
Paul Andrew Gott, Fountain Court
Patrick Curtis Green, Henderson Chambers
Nicholas John Griffin, 5 Paper Buildings
Alexander Rupert Gunning, 4 Pump Court
Teertha Gupta, 4 Paper Buildings
Sally-Ann Hales, 18 Red Lion Court
Richard Tristan Harrison, 1 King's Bench Walk
Frances Margaret Heaton, Deans Court Chambers
Mark Stephen Heywood, No5 Chambers
Richard Geoffrey Hill, 4 Stone Buildings
Emma Katherine Himsworth, One Essex Court
Andrew Michael Hunter, Blackstone Chambers
Alexander Forbes Hutton, Hailsham Chambers
Zoe Elisabeth Johnson, QEB Hollis Whiteman
Sean William Jones, 11 King's Bench Walk
Chirag Vrajlal Karia, Quadrant Chambers
Jonathan Shea Kinnear, 9-12 Bell Yard
James Matthew Lang Laddie, Matrix Chambers
Taryn Jane Lee, 37 Park Square Chambers
Samantha Louise Leek, 5 Essex Court
Henry Legge, 5 Stone Buildings
Nicholas James Henry Lumley, Park Court Chambers
John William Machell, Serle Court
Philip John Marshall, 1 King's Bench Walk
Sara Alayna Masters, 20 Essex Street
Michael Anthony Mather-Lees, Thirty Park Place
Suzanne Elizabeth McKie, Devereux Chambers
Fenella Morris, 39 Essex Street
Philip Curt Harold Moser, Monckton Chambers
Michael John Mylonas, 3 Serjeants Inn
Paul Richard Nicholls, 11 King's Bench Walk
Hugh Robert Norbury, Serle Court
John Arthur Odgers, 3 Verulam Buildings
Suzanne Ornsby, Francis Taylor Buildings/St John's Chambers
Robert Michael O'Sullivan, 5 Paper Buildings
Nigel David Poole, Kings Chambers
Andrew John Post, Hailsham Chambers
Hugh Geoffrey Preston, 7 Bedford Row
Dominique Jane Rawley, Atkin Chambers
Stuart Martin Ritchie, Littleton Chambers
Marc Humphreys Rowlands, Keating Chambers
Rebecca Mary Sabben-Clare, 7 King's Bench Walk
Nicola Jane Shaw, Gray's Inn Tax Chambers
Charles Isaac Sherrard, Furnival Chambers
Navjot Sidhu, 25 Bedford Row
Andrew Duncan Smith, St Philips Chambers
Adrian Speck, 8 New Square
Piers Alistair Stansfield, Keating Chambers
Howard Linton Stevens, 3 Hare Court
Rebecca Stubbs, Maitland
Anne Elizabeth Studd, 5 Essex Court
Rebecca Trowler, Doughty Street Chambers
John Alistair Pitt Vater, Harcourt Chambers
Kieran Patrick Vaughan, Garden Court Chambers
Andrew Nigel Malcolm Wales, 7 King's Bench Walk
Steven John Walker, Atkin Chambers
Richard Beaumont Waller, 7 King's Bench Walk
Andrew Ronald Warnock, 1 Chancery Lane
Rupert Miles Warren, Landmark Chambers
Pete Francis Weatherby, Garden Court North Barrister Chambers
Peter Lazenby Wilcock, Tooks Chambers
Claire Louise Margaret Wills-Goldingham, Albion Chambers
David Frederick Harris Wolfe, Matrix Chambers

Honorary QC appointments

Professor Dawn Oliver, Emeritus Professor of Constitutional Law at University College London
Michael Payton, senior partner, Clyde & Co
Stephen Grosz, head of public law and human rights, Bindmans
Charles Dhanowa, Registrar of the Competition Appeal Tribunal and Secretary-General of The Association of European Competition Law Judges
Professor Sandra Fredman, Rhodes Professor of the Laws of the British Commonwealth and the USA at Oxford University