New KCs are expected to be announced in September
The appointment round for 2025 KCs is set to open on 12 May.
New KCs are expected to be announced in September. To qualify for KC status, barristers must, first and foremost, display excellence. This main requirement calls for barristers to have considerable length and depth of legal experience. Moreover, they must possess expert updated legal knowledge.
Eligible candidates must have displayed a commitment to enhancing access to justice by having personally conducted criminal/civil legal aid work, helping community-based law centres or offering pro bono services, among others. They must also show adeptness in oral and/or written persuasive argument, such as in presenting and testing litigants’ cases.
Barristers looking to achieve KC status must be devoted to clients’ interests without external influences and display integrity and honesty in dealings with clients, the judiciary and other practitioners. They must have taken the lead in setting and maintaining the profession’s standards.
According to Attorney-General Judith Collins, the solicitor-general will obtain feedback from the New Zealand Law Society | Te Kāhui Ture o Aotearoa and the New Zealand Bar Association on the candidates as per regulation 8 of the Lawyers and Conveyancers Act (Lawyers: King’s Counsel) Regulations 2012. The attorney-general will then confer with the chief justice on recommending candidates to the governor-general.
The selection process is set to end on 5 September. Candidates will be privately updated on their application status by the solicitor-general.
The application form and guidelines have been published on the Crown Law website.
