Is The Bar Marginalising Mediators?
IN THE NEWS Bar Marginalising Mediators This is the name of an article that appeared in The Australian’s Legal Affairs section on Friday 22 July 2016. Every Barrister when they start out, at least for a fleeting moment, aspire to the exalted rank of Silk. They yearn for those post-nominals, QC (Queens Counsel). Like the armed forces have the SAS, the law has the QC. Perhaps the ambition is so fierce that they dream of a legal textbook bearing their name, the QC post-nominal and authoritatively on the inside cover ‘One of Her Majesty’s Counsel Learned in Law & Equity’. Then reality takes a bite. Those post-nominals demand an increase in fees that price the poor QC out of the market, and they find themselves less busy. Maybe they are not elite enough to be a QC (not every Rugby player can play for the Wallabies or the All Blacks). Maybe they just do not want the post-nominals (there are many ‘Junior’ barristers on far more money than QC’s with heavier and higher prof...