Incoming CILEX president prioritises members’ success

Incoming CILEX President Yanthé Richardson will prioritise supporting CILEX members to succeed in their roles and inspiring the next generation of CILEX lawyers and paralegals during her year in office.

Ms Richardson, who took over the reins from Emma Davies on 16 July, said: “We have members who are achieving amazing things – becoming partners at firms across the country, from high street practices to City law firms. Others are heading up departments in public sector and commercial organisations or joining the judiciary.

“I want to ensure that those successes demonstrate to our members, future CILEX students and employers what can be achieved by those taking the CILEX route into law. I want to put these success stories front and centre.”

Ms Richardson is a principal director at top 100 law firm Foot Anstey where she specialises in transactional new-build development work.

During her term as president, she wants to help CILEX members to progress.

“There will be members working in firms where they feel they don’t have a great deal of opportunity,” explained Ms Richardson. “I want CILEX to be going out to those employers, having conversations with them about developing their CILEX lawyers and paralegals. We can help them to create career frameworks for their CILEX employees, giving them the tools they need to retain and develop talented staff.”

Ms Richardson began her legal career at 17 when her circumstances meant she had to change her plans, leave school and get a job. Working at a local legal aid firm, colleagues who had qualified through CILEX suggested she consider the pathway.

She worked as a secretary, then later a paralegal. It was, she explained, “all hands on deck” and as a result she gained a lot of exposure to different areas of the law.

“It gave me the opportunity to build some really amazing people skills which, as I have progressed in my career, I can see have been really valuable,” she said. “Clerking at the Crown Court meant I was speaking to clients who were negotiating the criminal justice system as well as interacting with top barristers. It was invaluable training.”

She qualified as a Fellow and later moved to London where she practised family law before transferring to property law and working her way up to her current leadership role at Foot Anstey, now managing a team of 25.

“I want to see more firms like mine where there are no barriers for CILEX lawyers,” she said. “I want our members to have the potential to go all the way to equity partnership if they have the skills and the desire to do so.”

Ms Richardson also represents CILEX on the Land Registry Advisory Council and the Digital Property Market Steering Group. She was recently appointed to the New Homes Quality Board code council.

To read more about Ms Richardson’s plans and her career journey, read her column in this edition of the Journal