Legal profession changes overnight as Queen’s Counsel becomes King’s Counsel

The Queen’s death means huge, instant changes to SA’s courts and the entire legal profession as the state’s most senior barristers find their titles changed over night.

The death of Queen Elizabeth II changed our world overnight – and nowhere was that more evident than in the state’s courts.

For 70 years, all court cases have begun with a court staffer announcing “the matter of Queen versus” the defendant.

At 9am on Friday, the first case of the day in the District Court started with a historic “the matter of King versus” the defendant.

It is the first time the word “King” has been used in the judicial process since the reign of George VI, who died in 1952.

The Queen visited the District Court building on March 10, 1986.

The change also flowed to the top branch of the state’s lawyers – the Queen’s Counsel who found out overnight that a title many of them have held for decades has changed.

Queen Elizabeth II visited the Sir Samuel Way Building – home of the state’s courts – on March 10, 1986, during her royal visit.

The most prestigious and experienced barristers who had adopted the mantle of QC will now be known as King’s Counsel or KC.

But that is not the only change, as the legal profession shifts their both their daily practices and also the way they publish and refer to judgments.

On Friday morning, the Australia Bar Association confirmed all Queen’s Counsel across Australia would automatically become King’s Counsel without any need for application.

The change, while not unexpected, is a significant change for the profession.

For the length of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign barristers aspired to achieve the lorded status of QC – which later changed to Senior Counsel.

The Supreme Court sitting in 2020 following the appointment of now Court of Appeal president Mark Livesey to the bench. The court sits in front of the coat of arms featuring the coat of arms.

SCs will stay the same but the class of QCs, which includes some of the most experienced in the profession, have found their titles changed overnight.

President of the SA Bar Association said Marie Shaw KC said the title of King and Queen’s Counsel was introduced in 1594 and has become synonymous with the elite of the profession.

“The title represents a particular level of skill and experience and an understanding of what it means to be an officer of the court,” she said.

Among one of the changes will be the format of criminal cases.

Criminal cases in the higher courts for the past 70 years have been lodged as the “Queen vs x” which will now change to the “King vs x”.

It is unclear whether appeals reserved by the Court of Appeal will be returned with the Queen as the original respondent of appellant, or the King as the new regent.