Queen’s Counsel Also known colloquially as ‘Silks’ on account of their silk gowns, Queen’s Counsels, or QCs (King’s Counsels, or KCs, if the monarch reigning at the time is male) are barristers— or, in the case of Scotland, advocates— appointed by Letters Patent to be one of ‘Her Majesty’s Counsel learned in the law’. QCs are a separate order or degree of lawyers with enhanced status and privileges. For example, they may sit within the Bar of court, and wear silk gowns of a special design.

QCs are typically drawn from among senior barristers, since their appointment is to conduct court work on the Crown’s behalf. Taking silk not only enhances the standing of a lawyer, it also means higher fees for courtroom work. QCs used to be granted ad hoc admissions to the Singapore Bar as a matter of course to argue cases, but in recent years, their admission is allowed only where they have special expertise or if a case is overly difficult or complicated. Singapore has developed a local equivalent, known as the Senior Counsel.