CILEX chair Professor Chris Bones outlines the considerable success CILEX has achieved with both government and mortgage lenders as a focused and well-argued case for change begins to yield results

When I took over as chair in July 2018, CILEX had a long list of issues which it believed were stopping its members enjoying the same opportunities to practise as similarly qualified legal professionals from other groups.

To be frank, this was a laundry list of complaints rather than a well-argued case for change in the public interest. As a result, very little progress had been made for some years.

Even if our arguments had been better marshalled, there was little interest in government in resolving these issues, nor were any other institutions, notably mortgage lenders, willing to talk to us, let alone consider changing their policies. Whilst some employers promoted, encouraged and enabled CILEX members to progress as lawyers and as employees, many more continued to be accused of poor practices in relation to remuneration and investment in training and qualifications.

Now, in 2022, the situation looks very different.

Powerful arguments

Thanks to some great work by the policy and public affairs team under the direction of Simon Garrod and the board’s external relations sub-committee, the laundry list is now a well-argued case for change in the public interest. It is sharp, focused and linked to the challenges that face the justice system – both systemic and long-term, such as the lack of diversity amongst judges, and more the short-term challenges generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, like the backlog of court cases. We now have a powerful argument that has captured the ear of government, opposition, civil servants, regulators and key stakeholders in the lending sector.

"The approach has been to adopt a constructive and solutions-oriented strategy where we bring ideas that help those in power" 

This has been coupled with a deliberate decision by the CILEX board not to emulate some of the other professional bodies in their confrontational style of engagement on matters of concern to their members. Instead, the approach has been to adopt a constructive and solutions-oriented strategy where we bring ideas that help those in power, or those who want to see change, make progress towards their goals.

Over the last two years, I have focused more and more of my time as chair engaging key decision makers and influencers to support our case for change. This focus, with support from Linda Ford and each of the CILEX presidents in turn, has meant that in the last two years CILEX has spent time with lord chancellors, ministers, civil servants, banking leaders, opposition spokespeople, members of both houses of the Westminster parliament, regulators and other professional bodies.

This investment of time in linking the changes we want to see with key issues of public interest and coming up with solutions that would make a difference quickly, often with little or no cost to the public purse, has led to us now being in the position where changes have either been implemented or are under consultation or consideration.

So where are we on our key issues?

Criminal practice

• Following our contribution to Sir Christopher Bellamy’s criminal legal aid review, the government has announced a consultation on opening up the role of duty solicitor to CILEX practitioners by removing the artificial barriers established by the Law Society’s Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme.
• We have obtained government support to amend the Prosecution of Offences Act to enable CILEX practitioners to become crown prosecutors without having to requalify as solicitors. We are waiting for confirmation of an appropriate legislative vehicle to achieve the amendment.

Civil practice

• We now have several major lenders, such as Nationwide, Santander, Halifax, Lloyds, NatWest and Barclays, either confirming that CILEX regulated firms will be considered for lender panel membership or that they are reviewing their policies on inclusion in response to representations from CILEX.
• With the government having committed to allow CILEX Lawyers to certify powers of attorney in their response to the Modernising Lasting Powers of Attorney consultation, we are awaiting confirmation as to how it intends to address our concerns that the digital signature initiative will not remove the additional stress and costs for millions of consumers who hold paper versions of these, which will still require copy certification.

All areas of practice 

• The government has announced its intention to support the regulatory change needed to grant higher rights of audience to CILEX practitioners with Lord Wolfson making the following commitment in parliament:

“We [the government] are looking at opening up more opportunities for legal executives to do more work in the courts, particularly in the higher courts. That would also improve diversity because the diversity of legal executives is in much better shape than it is for solicitors and quite a lot better than it is for barristers.”

• The Lord Chancellor, in a letter to the chairman of the Judicial Diversity Forum, made a commitment that the government will pursue the necessary steps to allow CILEX Lawyers to apply direct for higher tier tribunal roles in the judiciary and to improve the opportunities available to gain court experience, including advocacy to prepare them for roles in the judiciary.

Whilst the legislative and regulatory changes are not ‘in the bag’, they are now all in the process of being addressed. Government is not a speedy business and we will need patience, but there is no reason for us not to be pretty confident that there will be progress over the next 12-24 months that will resolve most, if not all, of these issues.

Changing attitudes

There are still, however, three areas that require more work and the level of focus that we have previously put into matters that require regulatory or legislative changes, namely:

• The attitude of employers to CILEX members and the unequal treatment of those qualifying or qualified through the CILEX route when compared to those of equal standing who have qualified through other routes, particularly through the traditional solicitor route;
• The attitude of some institutions in financial services towards CILEX practitioners in refusing to equate them with solicitors; and
• Wider consumer understanding and acceptance of the CILEX qualification route. We don’t want to see consumers refusing services from current members and would like to improve engagement by parents, schools and colleges with the CILEX route to qualification in law.

We have plans in place to address all three and you’ll be hearing more about these as the year develops. It will take years, not months, to make an impact, just as our engagement with the legislative and regulatory process has taken time to bear fruit.

Member support

Your support and engagement in these campaigns will be critical to their success. We will need your help in:

• Continuing to complete our annual member survey – we need as many members as possible to do this so we understand what is happening to you in your employment. Using that data can engage employers and encourage them to change;
• Getting involved with activities we organise locally that promote the CILEX route in schools, colleges and universities; and
• Recruiting your colleagues into CILEX – unqualified or part-qualified legal professionals can find a supportive home with us without being involved in a qualification programme. There are tens of thousands of these people out there and, if they joined us, we could amplify the impact of our work with employers and the wider community we serve.

Please get involved and, as always, I welcome your ideas, thoughts and questions on this and any other aspect of our work.