Senior counsel
"Senior Counsel" is used in current or former Commonwealth countries or jurisdictions that have chosen to change the title "King's Counsel" to a name without monarchical connotations, usually related to the British monarch that is no longer head of state, such that reference to the King is no longer appropriate.
Examples of jurisdictions that have made the change because of the latter reason include Mauritius, Zambia, India (senior advocate), Hong Kong, Ireland, South Africa, Kenya, Malawi, Singapore, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago.
In Hong Kong, every Senior Counsel must wear a black robe and silk gown together with a wig when appearing in open court.
are now free to change their postnominal letters to K.C., due to the death of Queen Elizabeth II and the accession of King Charles III to the British throne.
In August 2018 the Supreme Court issued guidelines to regulate the conferment of designation of Senior Advocate.
John O'Byrne was the sole King's Counsel (KC) appointed after independence, in June 1924 when he was Attorney General of Ireland.
[11][12] Shortly after the Courts of Justice Act 1924 came into effect, Chief Justice Hugh Kennedy, in conjunction with the Bar Council of Ireland, revived the issue of patents of precedence, which had been used in the 18th and 19th century as an alternative to a patent as KC, but had fallen into disuse from 1883 as the strictures formerly associated with the rank of KC were abolished.
According to the view held at the time, the "privilege of patent" was part of the royal prerogative within the Free State.
[n 2] The early patents were issued under the Free State's [internal] Great Seal by the Governor-General as the King's representative, on the advice of the Executive Council (government).
[23] In 1949, shortly before the coming into force of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, which created the Republic of Ireland and broke the final link with the British Crown, Frank Aiken asked John A. Costello during Taoiseach's questions "whether, in view of the fact that certain members of the Inner Bar who received their patents as senior counsel continue to describe themselves as king's counsel, he will introduce a bill entitled an act to declare that the description of a senior counsel shall be senior counsel"; Costello said he had "no intention of wasting public time and money" on the idea.
The committee comprises the Chief Justice, the Presidents of the Court of Appeal and High Court, the Attorney General, heads of the Bar Council and Law Society of Ireland, and a lay member appointed by the Minister for Justice.
[22] The 2015 Act also specifies the criteria for both solicitors and barristers:[26] It is still the government which grants the patent of privilege and the Chief Justice of Ireland who calls patentees to the Inner Bar.
[30] There is no independent bar in Singapore and senior counsel practice as members of law firms.
A judge in the High Court in the province of Gauteng ruled that under the 1993 constitution, the president did not have the power to grant Senior Counsel status.
In the United Kingdom, the position of senior counsel (lowercase) is used to denote an experienced solicitor (who need not be an advocate), who is not on the path to partnership.
