The QC appointment process is harder for solicitors than barristers

Application fees for Queen's Counsel are weighted against solicitors and are dissuading them from applying, a group representing solicitors said yesterday.

Unlike independent barristers, employed solicitors are taxed on applications for QC, costing more than £3,200, said the Solicitors Association of Higher Court Advocates.

They asked the Queen's Counsel Appointments - created to provide a transparent, independent awards process - to iron out inequities between barristers and solicitors.

Currently, only one solicitor-advocate applies for silk for every 14 barristers that apply.

"While the level of fees is only one part of the problem, it is a significant one," Leslie Cuthbert, the SAHCA's chairman, said in a response to a panel consultation.

"We are very pleased to see the QC appointments panel taking note of our concerns and seeking not only information about the impact on solicitor-advocates, but also suggestions about ways in which that impact can be ameliorated."

Russell Wallman, chief executive of the appointments body, told The Times that the panel shared SAHCA's concern at the low number of applications from solicitor advocates:

“The QCA directors will decide in the spring how to proceed about fee levels, in the light of the consultation."