Hanning becomes first CILEX Lawyer appointed a Recorder
Hanning becomes first CILEX Lawyer appointed a Recorder
26 September 2024
Nick Hanning has become the first CILEX Lawyer appointed to the post of Recorder, meaning he can preside in the County, Family or Crown Court, with broadly the same jurisdiction as a circuit judge.
The Lady Chief Justice, Baroness Carr, has deployed him to the South Eastern Circuit, where he will sit in Family.
It was only last year that the government updated the law so that suitably qualified CILEX Lawyers could apply to become Recorders and Upper Tribunal judges, where previously they were unable to apply for posts higher than district judge. Mr Hanning has been a Deputy District Judge since 2020.
The appointment is an historic milestone for the profession, showing that CILEX Lawyers have the training and skills needed to meet the competencies required for these more senior judicial posts.
He says: “A key part of being a judge is about listening to and evaluating evidence and applying the law to the facts as you find them to be; it is not about how you qualified. CILEX Lawyers develop these skills as much as solicitors and barristers do and I would strongly encourage others to look at how a judicial role can help advance them and their careers.
“Historically, CILEX Lawyers have been slow to push themselves forward but the growing number of judges from our ranks should give them confidence that they belong on the bench in the same way that they now do around partnership tables.”
CILEX Chair Professor Chris Bones says: “We congratulate Nick on this major landmark, one achieved purely on merit. He has been a pioneer for the profession in many ways and has all the attributes needed for an appointment like this.
“Increasing the diversity of professional background and perspective on the bench is one of the reasons the government changed the law last year. Nick’s appointment also demonstrates another important step forward for CILEX in achieving equality of opportunity for our members.”
Nick encourages CILEX Lawyers contemplating applying for judicial appointment in the future to look at how to build the experience they need. “I’d suggest that one of my strengths is a varied background which has helped me develop empathy and objectivity, whether serving on the CILEX and CILEx Regulation board or volunteering for a variety of pro bono charities. There are plenty of opportunities out there in the profession to gain experience beyond the confines of practice.”
Nick Hanning is an experienced and skilled practitioner who specialises in cases involving employment, discrimination and occupational health law. He has particular expertise in cases involving work-related psychiatric injury. He acted for the claimant in the seminal House of Lords case of Majrowski v Guy’s and St Thomas’s NHS Trust, which established the principle of vicarious liability of employers under the Protection from Harassment Act 1997.
One of the first chartered legal executives to become a partner and one of the first CILEX Advocates too, he was a founder of Poole firm Reynolds Williams in 2000 which became RWPS and then Dutton Gregory, which acquired RWPS in 2014. From 2017 until earlier this year, he was an independent consultant lawyer, continuing to work with Dutton Gregory and also renowned London firm Anthony Gold. He provided advisory services to law firms through strategic and compliance consultancy DG Legal as well.
Nick was a CILEX Council (now Board) member for 10 years and served as president for the year 2012-13. From 2019 until 2021, he sat as a professional member on the board of CILEx Regulation. He was a member of the Civil Justice Council between 2018 and 2021, sat on the Litigant in Person Judicial Engagement Group and served on the Bach Commission on Access to Justice.
He has been a dedicated supporter of pro bono work, and chaired the South West Legal Support Trust for more many years. He is a former chair of the CILEx Pro Bono Trust and trustee of Advocate (formerly the Bar Pro Bono Unit).
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ENDS
For further information, please contact:
Kerry Jack, Black Letter Communications on 0203 567 1208 / 07525 756 599 or email at [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 18,000 -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.