Victorian Bar welcomes new silks

Just 27% of applicants made the cut

Victorian Bar welcomes new silks
Twenty three new senior counsel have been welcomed by the Victorian Bar.

“We warmly congratulate Victoria’s newest silks,” said Dr Matt Collins QC, president of the Victorian Bar. “These new appointments recognise exceptional leadership and excellence at our bar.”

The new silks were selected from 85 applicants. The bar said that 18 of the 69 men who applied, or 26%, were appointed. It said that five of the 16 women who applied, or 31%, made the cut.

“Our new silks are of the highest calibre and their appointments recognise their skill and achievements. We are pleased to see the number of women applying for silk increasing, and our membership increasingly reflecting the composition of the community we serve,” Collins said.

The Honourable Anne Ferguson, the chief justice of Victoria made the appointments after consultations with the bar, the profession, and the judiciary.

“The Victorian Bar is very grateful for the involvement of the chief justice and her court in the process of appointing senior counsel, and pays tribute to the former chief justice, the Honourable Marilyn Warren AC, for her leadership in the appointment of silks over many years. The Bar also thanks the senior members of our bar, the Law Institute of Victoria and senior members of the profession for their support and assistance in the rigorous process by which candidates are evaluated,” Collins said. “I am confident that the silks appointed today will further strengthen the Bar’s reputation as the leading source of independent, strategic legal advice, analysis and advocacy.”

The new silks are:
  • William Guy Gilbert
  • Mark John Gibson
  • Marcus Clarke
  • Paul Lawrence Ehrlich
  • Michael Wolf Wise
  • Paul James Hayes
  • Craig William Dowling
  • Scott William Stuckey
  • Michael Geoffrey Rees Gronow
  • Garry John Fitzgerald
  • Julian Paul McMahon AC
  • Scott Robert Johns
  • Suresh Rajkumar Senathirajah
  • Minal Vohra
  • David Joseph Nicolas Purcell
  • Mark Anthony Irving
  • Stephen Howard Parmenter
  • Claire Michelle Harris
  • Robert Andrew Heath
  • Lisa Michelle Nichols
  • Sally Amanda Flynn
  • Stewart John Maiden
  • Lisabella Gianna De Ferrari

Related stories:
NSW Bar names fewest silks in 24 years
Singapore admits first silk to the Bar

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