Appointment of Queen's Counsel in Scotland 2016

Review of the process of recommendation for appointment

I was provided with the following documents:

• All application forms
• Equality Act 2000 monitoring forms
• References
• Self- Assessments by applicants
• Criteria for assessment by Senators
• Assessments by Senators,
• Copy advertisement, and
• Copies of the newspapers, journals and websites where the advertisement was placed.

I was provided with a note of the conversations which took place between the Lord Justice General and the Dean of the Faculty of Advocates, the President of the Law Society and the Lord Advocate.

The Lord Justice General also provided me with a note of his preliminary thoughts on simplification of the process of judges commenting on applicants for silk for future appointment rounds.

I considered the Guidance provided for Applicants and the application forms.

I considered the process of consultation with the Dean of Faculty, President of the Law Society and the Lord Advocate to confirm that none of the proposed recommendations would be inappropriate.