'Secrecy means the system is bound to seem unfair'

Josephine Hayes has been a barrister for 22 years. She has built a successful London practice as a chancery advocate representing clients in complex technical legal disputes, many of which end in the highest courts in the country.

In recent years she has made "one or two" applications for silk. Ms Hayes describes the secret process for appointing QCs, or "secret soundings", as insupportable.

"It's bound to seem unfair because it is secret," she says. "Now there's an element of weariness about opposing the present system. All I can say is that the present Lord Chancellor has more confidence in it than I do."

Three years ago, Ms Hayes accused John Morris, Attorney General at the time, of sex discrimination because of the way "secret soundings" had been used to appoint Philip Sales to the post of Treasury devil, the Government's chief advocate in the courts. There were claims that the post, officially titled First Counsel to the Treasury, was linked to Mr Sales having worked at the Lord Chancellor's former chambers at 11 King's Bench Walk in Lincoln's Inn, London.

The case was settled when the Attorney General agreed to pay a sum of money to charity and so avoided a potentially embarrassing public hearing.

Ms Hayes believes this legal action has tainted her chances of promotion for ever.