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Her Majesty The Queen has approved the appointment of 100 new Queen's Counsel.

The full list in seniority order is attached.

Alongside the advocates being appointed QC, Her Majesty has also approved the appointment of six new Queen’s Counsel Honoris Causa (listed below).

The Lord Chancellor will preside over the appointment ceremony, where the rank will formally be bestowed upon successful applicants, at Westminster Hall on 14 April 2014.

Lord Chancellor Chris Grayling said:

“I congratulate the six Honorary Queen’s Counsel on their appointment. Nominated by their peers, this honorary appointment recognises their pioneering contribution to the law of England and Wales outside of practise in the courts.

“The appointment of a further 100 QCs to those barristers and solicitors that have provided excellence in advocacy is well deserved.”

Emeritus Professor Richard Whish is a legal academic and author. He is a qualified solicitor and was in legal practice in London from 1989 to 1998. He was admitted in 1977. He has been recommended for his contribution to competition law and policy, in the UK, the European Union and in many other countries with competition laws throughout the world. Professor Whish has published many books and articles on competition law, and contributed to many others. In particular he is the co-author of Competition Law, 7th edition 2012. Professor Whish has advised various Governments and competition authorities on competition law and policy, and has had an influence on the development of various competition laws and on soft law guidance. His nomination also focuses on his contribution to the development of many postgraduate courses on competition law and policy at King’s College London, where he is now Emeritus Professor, having been a Professor of Law there from 1991 to 2013. For many years he was also a Visiting Professor of Law at the College of Europe in Bruges. Professor Whish was a member of the Advisory Panel of the Director General of Fair Trading from 2001 to 2003, and a non-executive director of the Board of the Office of Fair Trading from 2003 to 2009. He was also a member of the Board of the Singapore Energy Markets Authority from 2005 to 2011.

Keith Bush is a barrister. He was called to the Bar in July 1977. He left independent practice in order to join the legal service of the Welsh Government in 1999, before going on to serve as first Chief Legal Adviser to the National Assembly for Wales between 2007 and 2012. He is currently an Honorary Research Fellow and lecturer in Legislation studies at Swansea University as well as Director of the Legal Wales Foundation. He has been recommended for his contribution to the development of the National Assembly for Wales as a legislature, as well as contributing to the development of devolved law and to the discussion and study of wider Welsh legal issues. He took a lead role in communicating to the judiciary, lawyers, academics, students and the general public, through the medium of both English and Welsh languages, authoritative information about the legal aspects of devolved law and government in Wales.

Michael Thomas Smyth CBE is a solicitor and is also admitted to the roll in Northern Ireland and Hong Kong. He qualified in 1982, becoming a partner at Clifford Chance in 1990. He remains a consultant to the firm and has been recommended for his expertise across a range of disciplines, including public inquiry work and judicial review. He has promoted the importance of pro bono work (for which he was awarded the CBE in 2009) and of broader engagement with the public understanding of law. He is a member of the Press Complaints Commission and of the NCVO Inquiry into Executive Pay. Michael has also been a member of the Ministry of Justice’s Public Legal Education committee and is the founding Chairman of Law for Life. He also chairs pioneering east London charity Community links. Through his chairmanship of the International Senior Lawyers Project (UK) he has contributed to the international promotion of the rule of law and human rights. He is author of Business and the Human Rights Act and joint author of The Law of Political Donations. He is a visiting professor at Queen Mary College, University of London, amongst others.

Paul Newdick CBE is a solicitor. He was admitted in 1984. He is now a consultant with Clyde & Co, having been a partner there for 25 years. He has been recommended for his work and leadership for the profession and the country in the pro bono field. He has served for a number of years as the Chairman of LawWorks (the Solicitors Pro Bono Group), serves on the Management Committee of the Bar Pro Bono Unit and is a trustee of the National Pro Bono Centre. He also founded the Cablinx initiative with Citizens Advice in the 1990’s. He has personally led efforts in the development of LawWorks Cymru in Wales and the establishment of LawWorks Scotland.

Saimo Chahal is a partner at Bindmans LLP. She was admitted in June 1990. She has been awarded the honorary QC title for her innovative use of the Human Rights Act to help ordinary people, often vulnerable to achieve success before the highest courts in what many would have considered unarguable cases or would have been unwilling to take. Many of her cases have changed law and policy. She has made a significant contribution to the development of the law in England and Wales, in promoting victims rights, in achieving investigations into deaths in custody and for cases about the right to die with dignity, most recently in achieving and promoting a debate throughout the country and abroad in the high-profile cases about the law on ending life with dignity. She is a well known speaker on civil liberties and Human Rights and has also given many interviews in the media. She sits as a Tribunal Judge, has contributed to the work of many Non Governmental Organisations e.g. the Migration Museum, Peace Brigades International & Legal Action Group over the years. She is considered to be one of the most influential lawyers in the country according to the Times Law 100, a Trailblazer according to the British Institute of Human Rights and a Top campaigning Lawyer- Lawyer Magazine. She has won many awards including Solicitor of the Year, Public Law and Human Rights Lawyer and Legal Aid Lawyer of the Year - Mental Health. She is included in Who’s Who for her outstanding and distinguished legal contribution to the community.

Nicola Mackintosh, solicitor, was admitted in 1992 and is Sole Principal of Mackintosh Law, a specialist law firm based in London. She has been recommended for her pioneering work in developing community care law as a discrete area, and her expertise in mental capacity and mental health law. She has taken some of the leading test cases in these areas, benefitting many thousands of vulnerable and disabled people including the seminal case of R v North and East Devon Health Authority ex parte Coughlan (1999). Her clients include people with learning disabilities, dementia and disabled children who require advice about their rights to services and protection from abuse or neglect. She was appointed to the Civil Justice Council for three successive terms until 2011, has been a member of the Law Society’s Mental Health and Disability Committee for over 14 years and is Co-Chair of the Legal Aid Practitioners’ Group. She actively campaigns and lobbies for the rights of disabled people to legal aid, quality legal advice and improved access to justice through dialogue with Government agencies and where necessary, legal action to secure justice for those most in need.

Notes to editors:

of the latest applications and appointments for practising QCs, along with equivalent figures from previous years, is attached. It should be noted that, because the system of selection used before 2003 was very different from the current one, meaningful statistical comparisons are unlikely to be possible. 4. The appointment ceremony in Westminster Hall is by invitation only.