61% pass rate as first students sit new CILEX Professional Qualification

25 March 2022

CILEX (the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives) today published the results of the first ever CILEX Professional Qualification (CPQ) assessments, which saw 61% of students pass assessments as part of the first stage of the new qualification.

In January, 230 students from across England and Wales sat assessments forming the first step in the Foundation stage of the CPQ, which is aligned to the role of paralegal/case handler. This is the first stage for school leavers, non-law graduates and professionals without legal experience, who want to eventually become fully qualified CILEX Lawyers.

When students complete the further assessments and practice experience needed for the CPQ’s Foundation stage they will be qualified as CILEX Paralegals and can go on to study for the CPQ Advanced stage.

The CPQ was launched in February 2021 with the aim of producing uniquely qualified, specialist lawyers with the skills to meet the changing demands of the modern legal market. It builds on CILEX’s core propositions of accessibility, affordability and flexibility, offering both graduates and those who did not attend university the opportunity to practise law at the highest level.

The results show that there was no significant difference between the performance of candidates on a range of diversity characteristics: 61% of White candidates passed compared to 58% of Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups; 66% of men passed compared to 60% of women.

CILEX CEO Linda Ford says: “These are positive results from our first cohort of aspiring CILEX Lawyers who are benefiting from a new qualification that recognises that a successful career in the law requires more than just legal knowledge.

“Those passing assessments today have been successful in the first step of their journey towards completing the Foundation stage and progressing to the next stage of the CPQ with both legal knowledge and skills, and practice-based experience. They are also benefiting from mandatory elements of legal technology, business skills and emotional intelligence – a first for legal training.

“CILEX is dedicated to providing an accessible route into the law, opening up the profession to make it more diverse and representative of the society it serves. The lack of attainment gap between White candidates and those from Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups suggest that the CPQ is delivering on its equality objectives.”

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]