Meet the team

CILEX Law School Dean, Professor Judith Bourne, talks about her dedication to social mobility, her academic career, and the range of projects she is working on aimed at expanding what CLS has to offer students and their employers

What are your role and responsibilities?

I’m responsible for CILEX Law School (CLS). There are two strands to our business: distance learning and apprenticeships. Since joining in April last year, I have been transforming the way we operate, invigorating our processes and ensuring CLS is fit for the future. Making students front and centre of everything we do is central to that transformation process – I want to ensure that our students get the highest-quality education and the best possible service.

In October last year, we launched the delivery of the Level 6 and Level 7 CILEX Legal Executive apprenticeships; that was a huge project and I am really grateful to my colleagues for their hard work in making it happen.

Being dean of the law school is a very busy role but I have the most fantastic team – there are around 45 of us and I can honestly say that I have never worked anywhere where everybody is so invested in their students and the mission of the business: to transform the legal profession, to grow the CILEX profession, to improve access to justice and to develop lawyers (and judges) who represent the community they serve.

Tell us a bit more about your background? How did you come to work at CILEX?

I started my career at the Bar but have been a full-time academic since 1999, teaching at London Metropolitan University and later St Mary's University, where I eventually became a professor due to my publications and work researching the first pioneering women lawyers.

My PhD thesis was on Helena Normanton, the first woman to join an institution of the legal profession (the Bar) after the passing of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act 1919. Like CILEX, she was a constructive disruptor of the legal profession, trying to make access to qualification more inclusive and representative.

I was head of law at Roehampton University when I received the call from a recruiter about the CLS role. I was quite happy in academia and hadn't thought about making a move; however, I had heard the then CILEX CEO Linda Ford speak at an academic conference the month before and so felt that the role was the perfect fit for me.

I’ve always worked in new universities (former polytechnics) because I live and breathe social mobility – as a hairdresser’s daughter from Hastings, I was the first in my family to go to university and education has transformed my life. I want to make sure that anybody who wants an education has access to it.

Since I began teaching in universities in the 1990s, my students have predominantly been from a diverse background. They have always been extremely able, yet after 30 years I haven’t seen that diversity reflected in the judiciary or senior roles within the legal profession. That’s wrong and I want to be a part of making it right.

The Solicitors Qualifying Examination hasn’t succeeded in making a difference and the legal profession does need disrupting – CILEX has an important role to play in that.

What is a typical day like for you?

I might see some of our students, or teach, but mainly my work is to ensure that the school is running smoothly and working as it should. I’ll meet with my team or speak to CILEX members and employers to understand what their needs are and how we can deliver them.

Part of my role involves developing strategy for the law school – thinking about the future of legal education and how CLS should respond to many changes that are happening as well as considering possible future changes and developments.

With my colleagues, I am also developing more value-added courses and events for students, such as ‘soft power’ skills, as well as careers events. It’s really important for students to understand that they are joining a dynamic profession where there is a move towards parity. We want to show them that there are so many possibilities out there for them – not just practice, but management, partnership and judicial roles.

What are you working on at the moment?

As well as the new apprenticeships and advocacy course, I’ve recently introduced a new paralegal programme, which aims to provide our paralegals with a really solid foundation in law. I’m also working on an artificial intelligence course and a mediation course.

Recently I’ve been looking into options to allow Chartered Legal Executives to gain an LLB if they wish, without the need to complete a three-year course, just the relevant remaining modules. Of course, CILEX Lawyers don’t need a degree but it is an option for those who feel not having one is a barrier.

The next big thing is CILEX’s new Judicial Academy – I’m working with the Judicial Office on the programme and am also the learning coach for the first pilot cohort of 15. This is a really exciting and important initiative because it means parity for our members and opens up existing career possibilities, whilst also making the judiciary more representative of the society it serves.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

It has to be working with my fantastic, supportive colleagues. They go ‘above and beyond’ and have been really welcoming and supportive.

What do you like to do away from your job to relax/have fun? 

Detective novels are my secret addiction and I exercise quite religiously, rising at 6am to work out and then running every evening. I'm a mother of three children and family is very important to me, as is my Spanish rescue dog who sits beside me at every online meeting!