Queen's committee sifts submissions in NSW

Special QCs committee to see if the moniker is irresistible for NSW barristers ... Can parliament be moved? ... Special symposium for reptiles to discover how justice is made 

IF you can't make a decision, send it to a committee. 

That's exactly what the NSW bar n grill has done on the vexing issue of Queen's Counsel. 

A conclave of wise people under the baton of former judge Lancelot (Bill) Priestley has been assembled to sift the numerous submissions in response to the bar's issues paper on reinstating QCs.  

The committee has the task of recommending whether the bar should approach the attorney general to request the repeal of the section of the Legal Profession Act prohibiting official schemes for the recognition of lawyers' seniority or status - s.90 LPA.  

The committee has representatives from both the pro and anti QC camps: 

• Priestley QC, 
• Noel Hutley SC, 
• Campbell Bridge SC (who has expertise in SE Asian legal markets),
• Arthur Moses SC,
• Anthony Lo Surdo SC,
• Elizabeth Cheeseman SC, and
• Victoria Brigden (daughter to Dyson Heydon). 

Sifting and distilling responses is one thing but, as Bret Walker SC has said, the issue boils down to one question: is there a public interest in NSW for SCs to be rebadged as QCs? 

When we asked AG Smith about this a few weeks ago, the reply from his spokesmuffin was: 

"The attorney general has no plans to reintroduce the appointment of QCs in NSW." 

We can safely predict, on the basis of the enthusiastic stampede to be Queens in Qld and Victoria, that the majority of NSW SCs will adopt the well worn argument that SC is confusing, that QC is a better known "brand" and is trusted in Asia. 

In fact, in post-colonial Asian countries the QC hangover is regarded as a bit of a pompous joke. The English speaking Asian jurisdictions, including India, Singapore and Hong Kong, long ago ditched the appointment of Queen's Counsel in favour of Senior Counsel. 

Spiggsy Spigelman has come out in support of the QC tag, claiming that NSW barristers would lose market share if they didn't switch. 

Walker points out that none of the leaders in the bars of major Asian jurisdictions are QCs and that in his experience there was no evidence that the monikers QC or SC impacted on the success of silks.

In both Queensland and Victoria the reinstatement process did not require legislation. 

In NSW, parliament will have to be moved. 

That means the bar will have to tap the reserves of love stored for it in the heart of the Cabinet, along with the Shooters and Fred Nile's God-Botherers Party. 

A radical alternative would be to scrap the idea of a self-basting imperial post-nominal, and rely instead on the market recognising talent. 

*   *   *

In February Tom Bathurst CJ told those feasting at the law term dinner that he wanted to do something about boosting confidence in the courts and the administration of justice.  

He put forward two ideas: encouraging judges to produce summaries of their judgments; and a series of seminars "on the process of judicial decision making" in criminal cases. 

He said that there would be seminars for the media, for parliamentarians and for community representatives working with victims and offenders. 

I'm tickled pink to say I've got my invitation to the media sentencing symposium on March 25 in the bar common room.  

Bathurst will be in the chair and the talking will be done by Major General Cliff Hoeben CJ@CL, Justice Peter Johnson and acting justice Robert Hulme. 

Heavy criminal barristers will also be on hand to reinforce the message: bar prez Phillip Boulten, senior public defender Mark Ierace, DPP Lloyd Babb, Tim Game and Stephen Odgers. 

Some of these people have never been sighted in public before, so it might be quite fascinating. 

Questions from the reptiles will be allowed, but there's to be no debate about the government's recent mandatory sentencing amendments or cases currently before the courts. 

We're told that the symposium will be a "closed session". Presumably that means Chatham House will apply. 

Such a pity.