King's Counsel

King's Counsel (postnominal KC), during the reign of a female sovereign known as Queen's Counsel (QC), are senior lawyers in various Commonwealth countries.

They are appointed by letters patent to be one of "His Majesty's Counsel learned in the law". They are not a separate type of lawyer. They are more than long serving lawyers, because their status is given by the Crown and recognised by the courts.

King's Counsel have the privilege of sitting within the Bar of court, and wear silk gowns of a special design (hence the informal title Silks). The special robes are the reason why becoming a KC is often called "taking silk".

In order to "take silk" a lawyer usually has to serve as a barrister or a Scottish advocate for at least 10 years. Recently solicitors have also been appointed King's Counsel.

A KC's status means they generally charge higher fees than ordinary barristers, and always have another barrister as an assistant. This assistant is called a "junior" even if the junior has been a lawyer longer than the "silk".

King's Counsel Media

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  A 1903 caricature of King's Counsel Robert McCall wearing his court robes at the Bar of England and Wales. For court, he wears a short wig, in addition to bands instead of lace at the collar, but he retains the silk gown and court tailcoat worn on ceremonial occasions.

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  Caricature of Serjeant William Ballantine SL wearing court dress. The extremely small skullcap on the very top of the wig is a vestigal coif, worn only by serjeants-at-law. Caption reads "He resisted the temptation to cross-examine a Prince of the blood"; Vanity Fair, 5 March 1870