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Barristers and QCs?

The Difference Between Barristers and QCs

As we have seen, barristers deal with litigation and speak for clients as their advocate in court, as well as offering expert opinion on points of law when giving “Counsel’s Opinion”.

However, many members of the public confuse the generic term for “barrister” with that of the most senior title in the profession. The highest rank to which a barrister can aspire is to be appointed “Queen’s Counsel” (or QC for short).

QCs are a very select group of the most experienced and able barristers in their field. One cannot simply apply to become a QC because the title is, literally, “by appointment” only!

Every year the Lord Chancellor advises HRH The Queen which small number of barristers have shown the requisite ability to have earned the right to be appointed. The process is called “taking silk” (after the silk gowns worn by QCs in court), and for this reason QCs are sometimes also referred to as “Silks”.

In Chinese a QC is known as 御用大律師 which translates literally as “Barrister at Her Majesty’s Service”.

In most cases when you hear somebody referring to “their QC” they will actually have hired a barrister and have made the very common mistake of confusing the terms, because QCs make up less than 10% of practising barristers (and because they often charge eye-watering fees based on their expertise)!

However, if you think you need the foremost legal minds to solve your problem you can actually appoint a QC direct these days!