Bar Standards Board (BSB) chair Baroness Ruth Deech and former Herbert Smith senior partner Edward Walker-Arnott are among a group of eight lawyers to be made honorary QCs this year.

The award of Queen's Counsel honoris causa is given to those who have made a major contribution to the law of England & Wales outside practice in the courts, and is decided by a Ministry of Justice selection panel, which passes its recommendations to Lord Chancellor Chris Grayling.

Deech (pictured), who has chaired the BSB since 2009, was re-elected for a second three-year term at the head of the regulator in December 2011.

She also sits in the House of Lords, and is a current member of the select committee on communications and a former member of the select committee on the merits of statutory instruments.

Meanwhile, Walker-Arnott, who is now a corporate consultant at Herbert Smith Freehills, served as senior partner at legacy Herbert Smith between 1992 and 2000, a period in which he is credited with spearheading the firm's growth into a full service set, and building its reputation as a serious rival to the magic circle.

He oversaw a doubling of the firm's corporate practice, to account for half of the firm's revenue. His career includes notable roles such as advising on the creation, initial listing and subsequent development of Eurotunnel, as well as advising Maxwell Communications following the death of Robert Maxwell.

Outside the firm, he has advised on a number of leading judicial review and company law cases and contributed to the development and teaching of law, as well as taking a role on the advisory group assisting Sir David Clementi in his review of the regulation of the legal profession.

Others to have been awarded honorary QC status include legal academic and South Square barrister Professor Ian Fletcher; 3 Verulam Buildings member and Oxford University professor of employment law Mark Freedland; Doughty Street barrister Professor Geraldine Van Bueren; founder of the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution, Eileen Carroll; equal pay lawyer Stefan Cross; and Professor David Ormerod, barrister at the Chambers of Max Hill QC and Law Commissioner for criminal law.

The annual round of QC appointments was announced today (27 February), with 84 taking silk, including four each from Brick Court Chambers, Doughty Street Chambers and Essex Court Chambers.

The trio are the most successful sets in this year's round, while other chambers to be recognised include Hardwicke, 3-4 South Square, Landmark Chambers, 39 Essex Street, Maitland Chambers and St Phillips Chambers, all of which are home to three newly appointed QCs.