myCILEx

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CILEx’s exclusive members area

myCILEx provides you with information on the work CILEx is doing on behalf of its members.
For the latest branch events in your area, visit: www.cilexbranches.org.uk

President’s review

CILEx President Martin Callan writes:

As the halfway stage of my presidency passes, I wanted to reach out to all CILEx members. I have already met many members across the country as I attend branch events. Although I have not been able to get to every branch, I know that there are hardworking volunteers giving their free time to build and maintain a CILEx presence, community and network from which relationships with employers, recruiters, centres and students help to promote CILEx and our values of access to the profession and equality and diversity.

Those of you who have attended CILEx roadshows will know that my focus is very much on the membership. CILEx is its members, and I am pleased with the level of membership engagement that we have achieved – and I want this to continue and deepen in the future. There are many challenges as well as opportunities ahead. I am working with Council and head office staff to help deliver a 21st century CILEx, with a new structure, more focused member services and much stronger membership engagement that enables us to listen to your needs and concerns, particularly around practice concerns (especially in the area of personal injury).

We have achieved a lot since June 2015, and the future for CILEx and our members is one of opportunity and challenge. This is not new to CILEx: we have always faced challenges. The difference this time is that the range of opportunities for our members is wider than it has ever been before, with independent practice, setting up regulated entities and partnerships, advocacy and judicial appointment.

That is not to say that approaching any of these opportunities will be straightforward: it won’t ! That is why CILEx continues to reach out to members to hear from you about your experiences – because we want you to succeed. We want to remove the barriers to your success, and with your help we can achieve a great future.

With our new contact centre, practitioner specialist reference groups and a strong branch network, CILEx continues to strive to be responsive to the needs of our members. I therefore urge you all to get involved. Join your local branch, join a special interest group, join the chorus of members networking with each other across the country. We have the most diverse and dynamic membership community made up of truly amazing people, especially those volunteers in our branches (remember to nominate them for one of our new awards!).

Finally, while I am urging you all to get involved, I also want to encourage as many Fellows as possible to consider judicial appointment. Those of you attending events may have become tired of my relentless pressing on this issue; well, I am not going to stop anytime soon. It took many years to get our new rights and opportunities, including judicial appointment. These opportunities are for you, your careers and your professional development: please use them.

I once again would like to thank all our branch volunteers across the country, and look forward to seeing as many of you as possible during my final months as your President.

CILEx unveils governance reform plans

Linda Ford, CILEx’s chief operating officer, writes:

CILEx has made its name challenging the status quo in the legal profession, and leading the way with our innovative approach to legal education and training and, latterly, to regulation. Our plans to reform our company and governance structure continue this mantra.

Back in September 2016, we told you about our plans to review our governance structure. This work is now complete and, at its meeting on 27 January 2017, having considered the recommendations of an independent report, Council approved changes to the CILEx Group structure.

The review considered the range of duties and responsibilities CILEx has as an Approved Regulator, a Professional Membership Association, an Awarding Body and a Law School and the most effective structure to discharge those duties. This includes the need to balance our duty to act in the public interest with our obligations to you, our members, and to provide increased transparency and accountability for our decision-making.

These changes come at a time when there is increasing scrutiny of Approved Regulators to demonstrate that there is sufficient independence between regulatory activities and the professional association. The changes also recognise the need to maintain separation between our Qualification Awarding Body and our Law School. As a Chartered Body, the need to maintain a high level of public confidence remains at the forefront of our thinking.

The new structure will support CILEx in its drive to become more commercial and able to offer better value to our membership, ensuring the viability of the Chartered Institute in what is becoming a more competitive and constantly changing environment.

A new process to select and appoint members to our boards and committees will ensure that we have access to a wider pool of individuals, with the skills, experience, perspectives and expertise we need to deliver all of our responsibilities.

Our plans to introduce a new professional association board dedicated to the membership interest will allow greater focus and resource to be placed on understanding the needs of you - our members - and the market in which you operate, and determine how we can better support you through your career journey. It will provide a direct link between head office, our regions and branches, and individual members, thereby ensuring that you get best value from your professional association.

I am delighted that we are already making positive progress in delivering improved member services through a series of exciting new benefits, such as a careers portal offering support in career progression, finding jobs, changing career path or professional development, and a new-look online CILEx Journal that will be launched later this year. Our specialist reference groups provide an opportunity for us to engage with you directly on matters relevant to your practice area, membership grade and professional interests.

Over the coming months, we will be holding a series of regional roadshows and online discussion events to hear your views on the changes. In particular, we are keen to understand your thoughts on the future constitution of Council and how it can better reflect the diversity of our membership.

We want to explore key questions, such as whether regional representation is important to you, how we can involve representation from each of our membership categories, where branches should fit into the structure and what are the barriers preventing members from applying for non-executive positions on Council and committees.

‘I am ACILEx’ : the professional status solution

CILEx is calling all practitioners without a professional status to stand up, be counted, and be valued, and to claim their Associate Grade (ACILEx) status.

The ‘I am ACILEx’ campaign will encourage the many hundreds of paralegals in the UK to use their existing experience and qualifying law degree to reward themselves with - what is for many - a long-awaited professional status. As well as the designatory letters ‘ACILEx’, Associate CILEx members will be able to claim a defined set of competence standards, independent regulation and membership of CILEx (in so doing benefitting from its career and development services).

What does this mean for employers?

Employers also benefit by representing unregulated professionals as ACILEx. Hundreds of firms are looking for a solution that will attract and retain talented practitioners, and develop paralegal roles in line with the needs of their legal business. ACILEx allows employers to reward individuals with a status that defines their competencies, helps them to progress and meets clients’ expectations.

You, re-presented

Qualifying professionals have been able to claim their ‘I am ACILEx’ status since early March. A bulk membership option for employers has also been launched. ‘I am ACILEx Employer’ status will help individuals and recruiters to identify employers that are committed to creating strong, diverse legal entities, thus helping businesses to attract and retain high-quality professionals. CILEx believes in a strong, sustainable and diverse legal sector, which is why we are offering both employers and paralegals a unique opportunity to stand out from the rest.

 

Policy round-up

Simon Garrod, CILEx director of policy and governance, gives an update on current projects and initiatives:

Personal injury reforms

The Prisons and Courts Bill was published in late February (see pages 4, 6–7 and 25–27 of this issue). It included details of the Ministry of Justice’s reforms to personal injury and whiplash, including raising the small claims limit. Prior to publication, CILEx requested to meet with officials to discuss the various strands of work coming together within the bill, and the Lord Chancellor replied to agree to those meetings going ahead.

Just before the bill was published, CILEx President Martin Callan met with heads of the Bar Council and the Law Society, as well as leaders of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers, the Motor Accident Solicitors Society, and the Personal Injuries Bar Association, to discuss joint working.

Spring Budget 2017

Chancellor Philip Hammond announced specific funding to implement the post-16 skills plan, which will streamline technical education. CILEx has been in discussions regarding the proposed Legal, Finance and Accounting T-Level, aimed at 16 year olds as a technical alternative to A-levels, and funded through the spending commitments made by the chancellor.

Regulatory plans

The Legal Services Board and the Legal Ombudsman both consulted on their upcoming business plans. CILEx advised both that, considering the significant pressures on the sector and the numerous waves of reforms underway, where the plans will impact upon the work of practitioners, then only activities that are absolutely necessary should be taken forward.

Debt pre-action protocol

The Civil Procedure Rule Committee recommended the implementation of the pre-action protocol (PAP), at a meeting in December 2016, after the requirement to supply a copy of an agreement when sending the initial letter before action was removed from the draft PAP.

At the time of writing, the PAP is currently with Sir Terence Etherton, the Master of the Rolls, who will decide whether it is to be implemented and when. We anticipate that, if approved, the PAP will be implemented in either October 2017 or April 2018. We will update members when we know more.

Specialist reference groups

The specialist reference groups are there to make it easier for you to offer your views on the issues affecting your practice area. Please do join the specialist reference group that relates to your area of specialism. Our active groups include Conveyancing, Personal Injury, Court Users, Regulatory Affairs, Wales, Criminal Practitioners, Family Practitioners, and Civil Practitioners. Other groups are planned for the future, and you can find details on the CILEx website or just searching for ‘CILEx specialist reference groups’.

School debate team travels to NYC Mock Trial World Championship

CILEx and its branches work with many schools, colleges and universities to raise the profile of CILEx and the CILEx route to study law. Recently, Angus Nairn, the Bournemouth Branch chair, attended St Peter’s School in Bournemouth for a careers fair on behalf of CILEx. He learnt that the school was raising money to enable some of its very talented students to pursue their love of the law and attend Brooklyn Courthouse in New York to take part in the city’s International Empire Mock Trial competition. CILEx and the CILEx Bournemouth Branch decided to provide sponsorship for these students.

Below, Sarah Middleton, the school’s assistant head teacher, explains how and why our sponsorship has been important to the school.

St Peter’s Catholic School students’ journey to the Empire New York Mock Trial World Championship began with winning the regional Bar Mock Trial competition final in Bournemouth Crown Court. We have taken part in the mock competition for many years, and have had three regional wins and two top five national placings. As a consequence, we have a level of experience in the school which includes the coach, the barrister mentor and, most importantly, previous students who come back from the event having enjoyed taking part so much they want to help the next team. The students gain so much from doing the competition, in terms of personal growth, presentation skills, teamwork and leadership, that it takes them way beyond the curriculum of citizenship and into university or working life.

The Empire New York World Championship is a massive undertaking. The case was complex, with over 100 pieces of evidence and over 100 pages of affidavits and expert testimony. It revolved around a terrorist plot across three cities in America. We got the case in late June, and immediately started to try to master it. There were new rules and procedures to learn as well, including a pre-trial and a guest witness who would only be revealed on the day of the trial. All this was intended to make the experience as real life as possible.

Work continued through the summer holidays, practising three times a week, which was hard but the team was truly committed. We had to learn the objections and case-law to quote, with the objections. In fact, we started with this, and worked backwards to learning the case because, from experience, we knew that typically this was a weakness of British teams in the competition.

The competition itself took place over the weekend of 12 and 13 November 2016, beginning with a grand opening ceremony on Friday and followed by a memorable closing function and award ceremony. Over the weekend, the St Peter’s team participated in four rounds against four different schools: two rounds as the prosecution, and two rounds as the defence. St Alan Philip received a Best Attorney award, and Jim Brady receiving a Best Witness award in one of the rounds.

The team did a fabulous job over three magnificent rounds in the awe-inspiring Brooklyn District Court, coming within a few points of the opposition and winning twice. Sadly, the fourth round was a different story, the judging was not up to standard and the competition was suspended temporarily while the referee was called. This could only end fairly in a draw, which was frustrating for both sides. However, the spirit of the world championship prevailed, and both teams shook hands and left the best of friends.

Of the team that went to the world championship, four students are intending to pursue careers in the law. They will follow in the footsteps of previous teams, where partaking in the Bar Mock Trial competition and the Empire New York Mock Trial World Championship has allowed them to access top universities.

None of this would be possible without sponsors, such as CILEx, Jomati, our local Bar Association, a local taxi company, Liverpool Victoria and Keogh Solicitors, which together helped us towards the £13,000 cost of the trip. The students themselves funded the majority of the cost by cake sales, working extra shifts and fundraising and appealing to parents. We find fundraising difficult because this is not a community project: it is about legal education and falls outside of the remit of most funds. We now have 22 more students, who are eagerly waiting for their turn to experience the excitement of the competition, and the pride that comes with doing their absolute best.

DASLS award to Gemma Sparks

Associate Chartered Legal Executive Gemma Sparks from The Family Law Company in Exeter, won the Support Team Member category at the 2017 Devon & Somerset Law Society Legal Awards, which were held at Sandy Park, Exeter in early March.

Commenting on her award win, Gemma said: ‘I am not sure words can describe what the award means to me. I was shocked to hear my name as winner.

'The nomination itself was recognition from my bosses that they are happy and proud of the work I do, and winning is further recognition of this.

'I am honoured and proud to have represented the company and delighted to have won the award.'

CPD FAQ

Q: How much detail do you need when I log my CPD on myCILEx?

A: For compliance, CILEx Practitioners and CILEx members required to complete CPD should log all CPD on myCILEx. For each section, it is important that you adhere to the strict character limit. This will be indicated next to each section, and will include all letters, punctuation and spaces. We suggest that you provide a short explanation of what you did, what you wanted to achieve, and why this is relevant for each activity on myCILEx, and this should keep your entries under the character count.

We appreciate that such restrictions can mean that you find it difficult to provide full details of your activities. Therefore, we ask that you keep a separate record of your CPD for a minimum of two years after completion. This may include further explanation of the activity’s relevance, your reasons for choosing the activity, and also any confirmation of completion, ie, course certificates or statements, which confirms your completion of an activity.

Pay it forward!

Mandy Robertson, a CILEx Pro Bono Trust trustee, writes:

You may or may not have read the novel Pay it forward by Catherine Ryan Hyde, or watched the movie that was based on the book. The idea is that people form a network by providing good deeds to others, ie, one person does a good deed for someone, and then they pay that forward by doing good deeds for three others, and so on.

If you have ever received an unsolicited good deed from someone, then you know how that feels. It gets the feel-good chemicals working in your brain, and then you want to go out and do the same for someone else.

If you don’t already do any pro bono work, why not give it a try?

The advantages to you are that you can add the work onto your CV; it may not be an area in which you are currently involved, but one that could be of great help if ever you wanted to move into a new area of law. The great bonus is that you are helping someone with a problem that they are unable to resolve on their own, giving them empowerment to be able to resolve that problem. It does not have to be anything major: it could be something as simple as assisting a barrister in taking a statement; doing some photocopying; sorting out documents for the person and helping them write a letter; or pointing them to the relevant body that can help them.

You do not have to give advice, but just some small thing can lead to greater things, plus you get to feel good about the work you have done and get the feel-good chemicals working!

CLS delivers bespoke training to Highways England

CILEx Law School (CLS) has been contracted by Highways England to deliver a bespoke Property Foundation course for staff working within their Major Projects Directorate.

The programme is designed to increase the skills and capability of the property teams by improving their knowledge and understanding of land law, highway law, statutory orders, compulsory purchase, planning and other related policies and procedures, including customer service and health and safety.

Thirty- five members of staff located in the company’s offices in Birmingham, Guildford, Exeter, Manchester and Bedford enrolled on the course initially, and it is anticipated that there will be further cohorts. The 18-month programme will be a blend of face-to-face and online learning, using CLS’s specialist distance-learning facilities and methods.

Noel Inge, managing director of CLS, said: ‘We are delighted that our expertise in delivering legal training by distance learning has been recognised by Highways England and we look forward to delivering this specialist programme to the first cohort of students.’

Meanwhile, law firm Charles Russell Speechlys recently launched its Solicitor Apprenticeship Programme and is recruiting two solicitor apprentices for the London office, starting in September 2017.

Training will be delivered by CLS and City Law School, with the apprentices attending teaching sessions at City Law School’s campus. The apprentices will be fortunate enough to experience all the core areas of the firm's work and will rotate across the various service and sector lines. The firm is also working with schools in the PRIME initiative, and has already begun promoting the vacancies to schools.

Jenny Pelling, director of business and apprenticeships at CLS, said: ‘Firms are looking at ways to improve diversity through the apprenticeship programme, whilst utilising their levy payments. They want to attract talented people who are unsure about going to university, but are still eager for a legal career.’

Retirement

Mr Andrew Martin Charles Hefferman, a Fellow from Portsmouth, Hampshire, retired on 31 Decemeber 2016. For the last 12 years, he was a senior debt recovery officer with the London Borough of Merton.