CILEX statement in response to Legal Services Board (LSB) investigation

18 April 2023

CILEX and CILEx Regulation (CRL) welcome the conclusion of the LSB’s investigation. Both organisations have committed to work collaboratively to progress the LSB’s recommendations through agreed undertakings. In the meantime, we want to reassure the regulated community and the wider public that regulation through CRL continues as usual.

The LSB report can be found here. We have also updated our FAQs here.

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ENDS

For further information, please contact:

Louise Eckersley, Black Letter Communications on 0203 567 1208 or email: [email protected]

Kerry Jack, Black Letter Communications on 07525 756 599 or email: [email protected]

Notes to editors:

CILEX (The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives) is one of the three main professional bodies covering the legal profession in England and Wales. The approximately 20,000-strong membership is made up of CILEX Lawyers, Chartered Legal Executives, paralegals and other legal professionals.

CILEX pioneered the non-university route into law and recently launched the CILEX Professional Qualification (CPQ), a new approach to on-the-job training that marries legal knowledge with the practical skills, behaviours and commercial awareness needed by lawyers in the 2020s.

The CPQ is a progressive qualification framework that creates a workforce of specialist legal professionals, providing a career ladder from Paralegal through to Advanced Paralegal and ultimately full qualification as a CILEX Lawyer. CILEX Lawyers can become partners in law firms, coroners, judges or advocates in open court.

CILEX members come from more diverse backgrounds than other parts of the legal profession:

• 77% of its lawyers are women
• 16% are from ethnic minority backgrounds
  • 8% are Asian or Asian British
  • 5% are Black or Black British
  • 3% are from a mixed ethnic background
• 85% attended state schools
• 33% are the first generation in their family to attend university
• Only 3% of its members have a parent who is a lawyer.

CILEX members are regulated through an independent body, CILEx Regulation. It is the only regulator covering paralegals.

Linda Ford is CEO of CILEX