CILEx Graduation
CILEx Graduation: an event not to be missed!
This is an open invitation to any past or present graduate, who has never attended a graduation ceremony, to come and celebrate their achievement with us in October.
The CILEx Graduation & Admission Ceremony is one of the highlights of the CILEx calendar each year. It is the opportunity for CILEx members, their families, friends and colleagues to celebrate the hard work, perseverance and, we are sure, sacrifices that they have had to make along the way to reaching their goal of completing the CILEx qualifications.
Rather than just list what the event will look like this year, we thought it would be good to get the wisdom of those who have gone before. Below you will hear from CILEx members who have attended the CILEx Graduation & Admission Ceremony and how they found the celebration. These are the experiences of members, including deciding to attend 24 years after initially qualifying through to a 14-hour flight and over 6,000-mile trip to attend the ceremony.
Juliet Harvey: CILEx Fellow
I originally joined CILEx and began to study in 1990, and eventually qualified as a Fellow in 1994. Upon receiving confirmation of my qualification, I can remember getting excited that I had a new certificate. I recall also relishing being able to write FILEx (as it was then) after my name and enjoyed being able to administer oaths.
A few years after I completed my qualifications, I saw that new Fellows had the opportunity to have an admission ceremony. Colleagues who had trained after me would come back from their graduation ceremonies with great tales of how amazing 'their day' was, and this always left me feeling a little disappointed I had not had that opportunity.
Skip forward 24 years to 2018, and I had just been announced as vice chair of Resolution (an organisation of 6,500 family justice professionals) the first Chartered Legal Executive to have been elected to such a position. I sat next to Louise Tyrrell (CILEx membership manager) at the formal dinner. Louise spoke to me about graduation and asked whether I had attended a graduation ceremony. I explained that I qualified before they came in. Louise then encouraged me to graduate that year. I sent my husband a text that night, inviting him to my admission ceremony!
My parents were proud to be able to see me graduate, as was my husband. We arrived as one ceremony was ending. It was great to see so many excited families, and listen to other members' stories about their journey to graduation. During the ceremony, I felt so proud being asked to take the CILEx oath and receiving my scroll from the CILEx President in front of a packed hall, with the family and friends of those who were graduating alongside me.
It was a very short walk across the stage, but far enough to fully appreciate all the long hours of study, rewarded by a handshake from the CILEx President and a scroll.
The CILEx Graduation and Admission Ceremony truly was a day to remember, a reward for all that study and a chance for loved ones to share in the collective joy and congratulations. I never knew that I could attend a graduation ceremony, having qualified 24 years previously. I would encourage everyone to attend a ceremony, it is such a special occasion.
Nikki Lewis: CILEx Graduate
I began my journey with CILEx in September 2014. After spending 14 years working as a legal secretary and project manager in a magic circle law firm, I decided to make a career change and move fully into the legal sector.
