Even for battle-hardened Legal Week hacks, trying to get reliable information on the opaque-as-ever QC applications process is as easy as storming Fort Knox armed with a spoon.
“I know how many brown envelopes we have,” the head of the appointment secretariat teased last week – before declining to reveal the magic number, apparently because of lingering uncertainty over whether each envelope contained a genuine form. Or several forms.
Judging by continuing dissatisfaction among barristers over the cost of the unwieldy application process, The Diary wonders whether the secretariat is putting off opening the envelopes as long as it can, in the event that one contains a nasty surprise.
