CILEX professionals graduate as report reveals law firms are “hostile environment” for CILEX lawyers

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More than 370 CILEX professionals celebrated graduation at Central Hall Westminster in London on Saturday 6 November, which was held by the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEX).

Around 140 CILEX fellows and advocates swore on oath to mark their qualification, with a further 237 members also becoming graduates, which is the step before becoming a CILEX fellow.

Millicent Grant, who was the first CILEX member to be made honorary Queen's Counsel (QC) and the first Black person to lead a professional membership body, spoke at the ceremony: “I have seen great progress made during my time in the legal profession thanks to the work of CILEX. You are ascending in a profession that is richer and more representative because individuals like you are entering it.

“That is important for the people we serve – the public. They need to have confidence that they are talking to someone who understands them, not someone who is elite, or distant. Social integration matters, social mobility matters and representation at all levels matters. Without it we see distrust in our profession, and in the rule of law itself.”

Speaking to the graduates, she said: “I feel strongly that we must encourage students who may never have thought the law was for them. To provide them with an accessible and affordable route to qualification. To reassure them it is no longer a career reserved for the privileged and elite, out of reach from the disadvantaged or those who, like me, don’t conform to the stereotypical traditional lawyer brand. By doing so, we can continue to transform the provision of legal services and improve access to justice.”

The graduation ceremony came after a recent survey of 2,041 CILEX members which revealed that law firms are a “hostile environment” for CILEX lawyers. The Pipeline, which conducted the survey, said: “The barriers that all CILEX members face are compounded further if you are female, ethnic minority, or went to a non-selective state school.”

More than 80% of the survey respondents believe that the rest of the legal profession looks down on them. One respondent explained: “In my personal experience, CILEX lawyers are treated with less respect, and are paid substantially lower salaries, than trainee solicitors and counterparts, despite having far more working experience and knowledge.”

At the graduation ceremony, CILEX President Caroline Jepson addressed the survey and urged the graduates to help “us create a legal profession that is ‘qualification-route blind’ – one that appoints, rewards and promotes based on merit alone. Build pride in CILEX and help us reach the point where CILEX lawyers are automatically recognised and valued as specialist lawyers.”

LawCareers.Net has more information about qualifying via CILEX.