2012 QC round highlights gloomy prospects for criminal barristers as many decline to apply. Suzanna Ring reports

With just 26% of the 2012 QC appointments being awarded to criminal barristers, the annual silk round, announced last week (29 February), offers hardly-needed proof of the difficulties currently being faced by the criminal Bar.

Of the 88 silk appointments, only 23 went to members of the criminal Bar against 62 criminal advocates applying. Both the number of criminal applicants and the percentage of those appointed compared with their civil counterparts have dropped in the last three rounds.

The figures tally with the bleak outlook for criminal barristers at a time when controversial planned cuts to legal aid (currently enduring a turbulent passage through Parliament) are likely to hit caseloads and fees, while moves to scale back the number of QCs appointed by judges to rape and other criminal cases in order to cut costs mean there is even less guaranteed work for QCs.

The problems mean even the 11% reduction compared with 2011 in the application fee – to £2,340 in 2012 – failed to persuade criminal barristers to come forward for consideration for QC status, with many advocates fearing that the coveted award would actually lead to a reduction in their caseloads. Notably, three of the top criminal sets – 2 Bedford Row, Three Raymond Buildings and 6 King's Bench Walk – received no new silks this year, with some suggesting that no top juniors from these sets even applied.

Former Bar Council chairman Peter Lodder QC (pictured) says: "The low number of criminal QC appointments is a reflection of great uncertainty in public funding. It is particularly significant and troubling that juniors from the top sets didn't even apply. The Government may choose to see this as a sign of the profession recognising the state of the market.

"But if the consequence is a loss to the criminal justice system by not promoting good people to conduct the most important cases, then that is not a proper operation of the market."

The proposed Quality Assurance Scheme for Advocates (QASA) by the Legal Services Commission (LSC), which could see criminal silk pay fall to match the rates of leading junior barristers, is acting as a further deterrent to younger advocates from seeking the kitemark. The scheme, put forward by the LSC in September last year, would see advocates paid according to their QASA level, with the top grade – four – covering both silks and leading juniors, thereby removing any differences in pay.

The controversial scheme is currently being reviewed by the Bar Standards Board (BSB), the Solicitors Regulation Authority and ILEX Professional Standards, with the BSB pressing for its introduction on the basis that it will be "simple to operate and help courts work better".

John Cooper QC of 25 Bedford Row says: "There are a number of reasons as to why the number of criminal barristers awarded silk this year is low. There is no doubt that criminal barristers will be very hesitant now to make an application for silk, given the cutbacks in legal aid and the general lack of certificates being granted for criminal silks on cases. As a result, silks are increasingly doing senior junior work, which will trickle down and squeeze out those at the bottom starting a career at the criminal Bar."

One leading junior told Legal Week that it would previously have been unheard of not to have a silk on a murder trial, but that it has now become commonplace, with rape cases also rarely warranting a QC instruction.

Meanwhile, the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Bill, due to come into effect later this year, sets out Government plans to cut £350m from the annual legal aid budget.

And it is not just the criminal Bar seeing a reduction in QC appointments, with the 2012 round representing the lowest number of new silk appointments for several years. Both the number of appointments and the number of applications have fallen year on year since 2010, with this year's 41% success rate the lowest since 2008, when just 29% of applicants were successful.

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

The number of female barristers appointed also fell this year to 23, down from 27 in 2011, although with 40 female applicants, the 58% success rate is higher than average.

Six candidates who declared an ethnic origin other than white were successful, down on the 12 appointed last year, while no solicitor-advocates were awarded silk after just two applied.

Clyde & Co senior partner Michael Payton was awarded honorary QC status alongside Stephen Grosz, Bindmans head of public law and human rights, Charles Dhanowa, a registrar of the Competition Appeal Tribunal and Professor Dawn Oliver and Professor Sandra Fredman, two legal academics. Former Clifford Chance senior partner Stuart Popham was awarded honorary QC status in last year's round.