Below is a message from the Law Society President Simon Davis, 1 July 2020:
Dear Colleague
The Ministry of Justice has launched the 2020/21 round of Queen’s Counsel honoris causa (honorary silk) awards by inviting nominations. All practitioners and members of the public are free to make nominations (including self-nominations if they qualify) directly to the Ministry of Justice.
In addition, The Law Society is participating in this process, as in previous years, by seeking to make nominations itself of solicitor members of The Law Society. Office holders are securing coverage for The Law Society’s role as nominator by means of publicity in the Professional Update, local law societies announcement, and The Law Society web site (see External Appointments) inviting nominations. We are inviting people to nominate themselves, or others, to us. Office holders will then select those who will go forward as nominees of The Law Society.
The way in which to make a nomination for this process is by providing basic personal details of the nominee (or yourself) and the following:
- Legal qualifications and legal experience to date
- What significant contribution have they made to the law in England and Wales other than in court
- Major contribution beyond what might normally be expected for someone in their position
- Why you think this person should be nominated by The Law Society as an Honorary QC
Please download and complete the standard nomination form from the Ministry of Justice web site https://www.gov.uk/government/news/honorary-queens-counsel-nominations-deadline-tuesday-11-august-2020 along with further details.
Please send your completed form to appointments@lawsociety.org.uk no later than 12 noon on Monday 27 July 2020 for consideration by The Law Society for submission to the Ministry of Justice. Nomination by The Law Society is subject to our own internal review and is, of course, no guarantee of ultimate success in the competition. As mentioned above, you are free to nominate yourselves or anyone you wish direct to the Ministry of Justice.
Please circulate this to your members. We are seeking the highest quality members of our profession for nomination.
Warm wishes
Simon Davis
President