New Zealand is again to appoint “queen’s counsels”. This follows the recent replacement of the title with “senior counsel”.
According to the Attorney-General the title has been brought back to protect “the essential independence of the inner bar”.
The New Zealand Republican Movement described the restoration as “a retrograde act”. The change has also been condemned by some lawyers.
The term “queen’s counsel” is no longer used in Australia and a number of other countries in the British Commonwealth. And in Northern Ireland queen’s counsel are exempt from the requirement to swear allegiance to the hereditary head of state.