QUEEN'S Counsel will have the right to insist on employing a junior barrister, despite the Bar Association's vote to scrap the two-counsel rule last night.
The association's extraordinary general meeting voted 120-97 to abolish the need for a QC to appear in court with a junior, in response to recommendations in the Attorney-General's discussion paper on legal services.
However, in a move to ensure the resolution was carried, barristers retained the QC's right to refuse to accept instructions unless his junior was briefed .
Junior barristers might push to have the title of QC removed, reflecting a groundswell of disapproval in the vote.
Association chairman Gladys Li said the abolition of the two-counsel rule had been taken in the public interest. But any changes depended on the decisions of individual QCs.
'I don't think this is going to effect a great change because the proposal that was put to the meeting was simply that it should not be compulsory,' she said.
'The Bar has been very responsive to the arguments raised that it is in the public interest for the compulsory nature of this rule to be removed.' More than 100 members also voted for the establishment of a compulsory insurance scheme, with a minimum cover of $5 million per claim. It is proposed the association's 600 members will pay an annual subscription fee.
