By Equality and Diversity Committee

Just as “taking silk” is one of the great honors of our profession, “nominating silk” is one of our profession’s great responsibilities. Ensuring that appointments of Queen’s Counsel represent the excellence of the legal profession is a duty not only of those in the selection process, but every member of the profession. The CBABC Equality Committee asks lawyers to consider diversity as an aspect of excellence when they make QC nominations.

The basic criteria for QC appointments are set out on the Attorney General’s website (www.ag.gov.bc.ca/queens-counsel). A candidate must demonstrate professional integrity, good character, and excellence in the practice of law. Excellence can be shown by a candidate being acknowledged by their peers as leading counsel or an exceptionally gifted practitioner, demonstrating exceptional qualities of leadership in the profession, or doing outstanding work in the fields of legal education or legal scholarship.

Increases in the diversity of the profession beg a broader consideration of what excellence means. Many women lawyers, lawyers with disabilities, minority lawyers, lawyers of non-traditional sexual orientation, and lawyers practicing in non-traditional areas of law, have surpassed hurdles of discrimination and economic disadvantage to practice law. These lawyers offer legal representation to individuals and groups who might otherwise be denied access to justice. They are role models and mentors who inspire youths and junior lawyers facing similar societal barriers. Their efforts challenge assumptions about who they are and what they can achieve.

To the extent possible, QC appointments should reflect the strides forward the profession has made in terms of equity. The goal of true equality in the profession among peers has not, however, been met. Using gender as an example, law schools in Canada in recent years have graduated more women than men, and the ranks of the legal profession and the judiciary in B.C. now include significantly higher numbers of women than in the past. However, the number of women appointed as Queen’s Counsel is still relatively small compared to their representation in the profession.

The ranks of Queen’s Counsel should represent a broad spectrum of lawyers of diverse backgrounds, including those who have helped pave the way for newer lawyers facing similar barriers to success. Leadership by representation is one key to ensuring the evolution of a bar that can effectively serve the diverse ranges of clients in need of its expertise. Moreover, as the Queen’s Counsel Act requires only that a person be a member of the bar for at least five years, we believe a year of call greater than provided for in the legislation should not be used as a screening tool.

To these ends, the Equality Committee encourages the QC advisory committee, and all lawyers, to focus on diversity as an aspect of excellence, and consider candidates who have overcome significant barriers to succeed in the profession. In the recent years, we have actively encouraged nominations of candidates showing a commitment to equality issues and access to justice. We have also encouraged nominations of lawyers making outstanding contributions to the profession while overcoming factors that might traditionally have limited them from the most senior ranks of the profession.

Equity in the QC process must begin with those who nominate. The Equality Committee encourages lawyers to nominate colleagues of diverse backgrounds who have blazed a trail for others in the profession, and made a difference to the profession in other-than-traditional ways.

This article was published in the October 2005 issue of BarTalk. © 2005 The Canadian Bar Association. All rights reserved.