A loud advocate
Incoming CILEX president Emma Davies talks about her CILEX journey, what CILEX has achieved over the past year and why member engagement is her priority
Like a stick of rock, I’m CILEX through and through.
Our membership is 77% female so that makes me extremely proud to take on the role as 60th President of CILEX, the 13th female president, supported by incoming vice-president Yanthe Richardson.
Growing up, I never had any intention of becoming a lawyer and in fact I didn’t really know what I wanted to do other than to help people.
I left university with a degree in tourism management but never worked in the hospitality industry, instead making some false career starts in territory manager and market analyst positions at Kelloggs and Reuters. It was in my mid-20s that I decided I needed a plan.
Having undertaken a module in law at university I took a job as a legal secretary and at my second firm, found female legal role models in Emily Green, a family solicitor, and Susan Marsh, a civil litigation barrister.
I was signed up to the University of West of England to convert my degree to law but it was Susan who introduced me to ILEX, as CILEX was known then, and that’s where my journey began in 2005.
Four years later, I celebrated the launch of the Devon ILEX branch with my other founding members and started to take more of an interest in ILEX on a national level. I originally served a three-year term on the CILEX council, stepping down in 2016 as, with a young family, it was the ‘right thing, but the wrong time’. I returned to the now-professional board in 2020.
Right direction
As I step into the big shoes of former president Matthew Huggett, I’m excited about the direction in which CILEX is headed. Last year Matt wrote about important upcoming initiatives, and I’m pleased to say that many have either significantly progressed or come to fruition, namely the recent opening up of senior judicial positions, support for CILEX members to become Crown prosecutors and CILEx Regulation’s work on higher rights of audience.
The CILEX Professional Qualification is now bedding in, a qualification with practice rights incorporated into its framework, ensuring those qualifying have complete parity with their solicitor colleagues.
The first cohort of Chartered Legal Executives undertaking the University of Law practice rights assessments have recently received their results, again securing parity with their solicitor colleagues or requiring them now to undertake the advocacy course, the final piece of the puzzle to work unsupervised in reserved areas of law.
The barriers continue to fall and CILEX continues to chip away at any that remain.
So where is CILEX going and what do I hope to achieve in my presidential year?
There are some big-ticket items, that’s for sure.
Coming up this summer, CILEX will be consulting with you, the members, on some important changes for the future of the organisation. I’m acutely aware we’re all extremely busy but I’d urge you to respond to the consultation. Let your voices be heard.
An inclusive membership
You can trust me to continue to wave the flag for CILEX as a home for all specialist legal professionals. There is no other legal professional body that offers such an inclusive membership and it is something to be extremely proud of.
My focus over the coming 12 months will continue to be on member engagement. In my role as vice-president, I’ve tried to be as visible to CILEX members as possible, on LinkedIn and in person, to be a loud advocate for CILEX members. I hope I’ve gained your trust and I reiterate my invite to keep giving me your feedback at emma.davies@cilex.org.uk
“You can trust me to continue to wave the flag for CILEX as a home for all specialist legal professionals”
I will work with the professional board and CILEX board to develop a communication strategy to ensure you as members are easily able to access updates on CILEX’s work and important information.
With our strategic partnership director I will ensure employers are well informed about all of CILEX’s qualifications, looking at how we can build professional relationships with them, for both their benefit and to ensure you as CILEX members are afforded the same career development opportunities as other legal colleagues. I will ensure the benefits of CILEX are heard far and wide by anyone who could use the expertise of our members.
I will work with CILEX to grow a strong and engaged member network. Plans in the pipeline include an online professional community, the return of in-person roadshows and encouraging the development of independent networks.
As the incoming president of CILEX, I have a request to the wider legal sector. I ask that we change the narrative once and for all and focus on what our members bring to the table, rather than undermine how we got there. A united and diverse legal profession will only better serve our diverse society.
As I said in my vice president inauguration speech last year:
I see you.
I hear you.
And now with the support of the dedicated team at HQ and my board colleagues, I will continue to use my platform as a loud voice for all CILEX members and endeavour to meet as many of you as possible.