# Is There an Equivalent to the Pulitzer Prize In Law? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 27, 2022, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-equivalent-to-the-pulitzer-prize-in-law/961787 "2022-03-27T14:12:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2022, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-equivalent-to-the-pulitzer-prize-in-law/961787/21 "2022-04-06T08:52:23Z")
As for QCs, that is indeed an honorary title for a senior barrister (i.e., lawyer practicing litigation). But when you look at [statistics](https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/news-publications/research-and-statistics/statistics-about-the-bar/queens-counsel-statistics.html), you’ll see that there are about 1,900 QCs in the UK, which is in the range of about ten per cent of all barristers. I don’t want to denigrate the accomplishment, but it’s hardly equivalent to a Pulitzer or Nobel Prize. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2022, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-equivalent-to-the-pulitzer-prize-in-law/961787/22 "2022-04-06T12:09:53Z")
Fully agree. ---
**Author:** ![Tusculan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecd19e/32.png) [@Tusculan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tusculan)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-equivalent-to-the-pulitzer-prize-in-law/961787/23 "2022-04-07T11:48:32Z")
IIRC QC in the UK means that you can represent clients at the Supreme Court. Only QC are allowed to do so. It is being part of a selective club, which itself is an honor, but it is not bestowed as a honorific. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-equivalent-to-the-pulitzer-prize-in-law/961787/24 "2022-04-07T14:29:31Z")
This is not true. Any barrister has right of audience before any court in England and Wales, including the Supreme Court (in addition, since 1994 it has been possible for solicitors to get right of audience before higher courts, which some thought would do away with the solicitor/barrister divide, but so far it hasn’t). If you’re litigating in the Supreme Court, you might wish to hire a more experienced barrister owing to the importance to your case, which means there’s a higher chance of such barristers to be QCs; but it’s not a legal requirement, and the line between QC and non-QC barrister does not run along the lines of “those who may appear before the Supreme Court” versus those who don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-equivalent-to-the-pulitzer-prize-in-law/961787/25 "2022-04-07T15:00:55Z")
Yes, it is customary to have a QC on more significant matters, as senior counsel, but not required. That’s the basis for Rumpole’s brag that he was successful in defending his client in the Penge Bungalow murders, “alone and without a leader”, ie he did it on his own, without a QC as leading counsel. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2022, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-equivalent-to-the-pulitzer-prize-in-law/961787/26 "2022-04-07T15:06:42Z")
Stationery printers across the Commonwealth will reap windfall profits when Elizabeth passes away and all QCs need to change their title to King’s Counsel on their business cards and letterheads. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2022, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-equivalent-to-the-pulitzer-prize-in-law/961787/27 "2022-04-11T12:05:20Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > I can name someone who _didn’t_ get one: John Nash. He was quite salty about it, too, according to the book, _A Beautiful Mind_ . Maybe he didnt do that much ? Maybe he should get the prize for economics ? Nash equilabria for game theory is very much the same as Le Chatelier’s chemical reaction equilibria… So not new to mathematics. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2022, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-equivalent-to-the-pulitzer-prize-in-law/961787/28 "2022-04-11T18:45:51Z")
John Nash received the Nobel Prize in Economics. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2022, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-equivalent-to-the-pulitzer-prize-in-law/961787/29 "2022-04-13T01:51:53Z")
It’s not that clear to me that the mathematics of Game Theory and Chemical Directionality are the same. Maybe some things in common. The Pulitzer is usually given to worthy journalism. No? What is the legal equivalent? ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2022, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-equivalent-to-the-pulitzer-prize-in-law/961787/30 "2022-04-14T06:36:30Z")
Our version of QC is called Senile errrr…Senior Advocate. Aka the guys who think that typewriters are a new fangled invention and home printers are the spawn of satan. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2022, 9:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-equivalent-to-the-pulitzer-prize-in-law/961787/31 "2022-04-14T09:29:04Z")
The Fields Medal is a prize given to young mathematicians. You may be thinking of the Abel Prize, like the Nobel Prize but named after a different Scandinavian guy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-an-equivalent-to-the-pulitzer-prize-in-law/961787.md?page=1)