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Two years after allegations she was passed over for partisan reasons, an Edmonton prosecutor has been granted a special legal distinction.
On Thursday, 103 Alberta lawyers were named King’s Counsel, an honorary title given to those who “represent the legal profession at its best,” UCP Justice Minister Mickey Amery said in a news release.
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“I’m grateful for this honour and I appreciate how the legal community supported me when I was not on the list in 2022,” Vane said in a text message.
“I hope this incident is an impetus for reforming the King’s Counsel process which is long overdue.”
King’s Counsel (or Queen’s Counsel when the monarch is female) is a title dating to the 16th century given to lawyers who have proven themselves to be “learned in the law” through courtroom and community service. The title gives lawyers precedence in court, special silk robes and a boost in their public standing.
Usually, lawyers must practice for at least 10 years to be elevated to King’s Counsel. Applications are reviewed by representatives from all three levels of court, the Law Society of Alberta and the Canadian Bar Association.
The minister of justice can also add names to the list, which Thursday’s news release confirmed Amery had done this year. The final list is then vetted and approved by cabinet.
Those steps have led to allegations King’s Counsel appointments have become a form of patronage. The Alberta NDP government temporarily paused appointments as part of an unfinished reform effort. Ontario scrapped Queen’s Counsel appointments in 1986, with its then-premier saying they were “granted more on the basis of who one knows rather than what one knows (the Doug Ford government has since reinstituted King’s Counsel appointments).
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