Senior counsel selection process: a message from the president
Fri Sep 11 2015This morning the Australian Financial Review published a piece headed "No silk road to seniority".
The article erroneously refers to applicants said to be on a "short list" for appointment as senior counsel in 2015. The Bar Association understands from the AFR that the "leaked shortlist" to which the article refers was taken from a list of purported applicants which was recently published on the Justinian website, along with an observation that around 24 senior counsel are expected to be appointed. The article is incorrect. There has been no leak of any "shortlist". Nor does the selection committee set any quota for the number of appointments in any given year. No member of the selection committee, nor any member of the NSW Bar Association staff, provided any information to the AFR in relation to the article.
The AFR has apologised for its error and has corrected the article in its online version of the article. A correction will also appear in the hard copy edition.
It is of the utmost importance that the deliberations of the Senior Counsel Selection Committee are entirely confidential. That is the only way that the appointment system can work. I can assure members that this is the case and that no information was provided to the AFR regarding any applicant or the committee’s processes.
Jane Needham SC
President