Three women barristers and 23 of their male counterparts have been appointed to the prestigious rank of silk this year, with slightly fewer women applying in 2015 than in recent years.
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The NSW Bar Association announced on Thursday that 26 barristers had been appointed as senior counsel.
It brings the total number of silks in the state to 392, of which 9.95 per cent or 39 are women. Of the 2324 barristers in the state, 497 or 21.4 per cent are women.
The new appointments include Sydney barrister Dominique Hogan-Doran, a past president of Australian Women Lawyers and a co-author of the Bar Association's inaugural sexual harassment policy.
A commercial barrister, Ms Hogan-Doran was one of the counsel who appeared for Senator Arthur Sinodinos at the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption.
Crown prosecutors Maria Cinque and Gina O'Rourke were also appointed silk, along with their colleague Craig Patrick.
Sydney barristers John Turnbull, Mark Walsh, Dominic Priestley, Patrick Griffin, and David McLure, among others, were also appointed as senior counsel.
This year, the Bar Association appointed former army chief David Morrison to the silk selection committee as a non-legal member.
Mr Morrison cemented his status as a champion of equality and diversity when he told a United Nations global summit last year that "we live in a world where the squandering of women's talent, the traducing of their potential, is a global disgrace".
As a proportion of the total number of women who applied for silk this year, a higher number of women were appointed this year than last year.
Of the 12 female applicants, three or 25 per cent were appointed silk, compared with 22.77 per cent of the male applicants.
2015 SILKS
John Barclay TURNBULL
Wayne Thomas CREASEY
Jean-Jacques Thomas LOOFS
Paul Neil William SANSOM
Mark Justin WALSH
Dominic Alexander PRIESTLEY
Dominique HOGAN-DORAN
Craig Christopher PATRICK
Patrick James GRIFFIN
Andrew John STONE
Michael GREEN
David Michael WILSON
Maria Maddalena CINQUE
Christopher Scott WARD
Andrew Michael PICKLES
Paul Rennie McGUIRE
Dominic Robert John TOOMEY
Anthony Logan McAVOY
Matthew James JOHNSTON
Grant Allan BRADY
David Alexander McLURE
Gina Maree O'ROURKE
Timothy Hans GARTELMANN
Edward Charles MUSTON
Anthony Peter CHESHIRE
Jeremy Christopher GILES
