Ceremonial - QCs-SCs

The High Court of Australia considered an application for special leave to appeal concerning the appointment of Queen's Counsel (QC) and Senior Counsel (SC) in Queensland. The applicants sought to challenge the validity of the process by which these appointments were made, arguing that it infringed upon their rights and was contrary to public interest.

The central legal issue before the Court was whether the system for appointing QCs and SCs in Queensland, which involved recommendations from the Bar Association of Queensland and the Queensland Law Society to the Governor in Council, was lawful and valid. Specifically, the Court had to determine if this process was susceptible to judicial review and if the appointments themselves could be challenged on grounds of impropriety or illegality.

The Court ultimately refused special leave to appeal. The Justices were not persuaded that there was a sufficient legal basis to grant leave, indicating that the applicants had not demonstrated an arguable error of law or a substantial question of public importance that warranted the High Court's intervention. The existing framework for the appointment of senior counsel in Queensland was, in the view of the Court, not demonstrably unlawful in a manner that required further appellate consideration.