A glimpse into the future

Neil Rose reports on a packed day at the CILEX Conference last month, where the resilience of CILEX members was at the fore

Sarah Sackman KC MP addresses this year’s CILEX conference

FutureLegal 2025, this year’s CILEX Conference in Birmingham, came at an important time for the profession – a chance, despite the shadow of Mazur, to reinforce why delegates chose the CILEX route to qualification and to share what they have achieved as a result.

As President Sara Fowler told delegates in her welcome to the day: “I’ve thought to myself many times over the last couple of weeks, if I had a time machine and went back, would I still have chosen to be a CILEX Lawyer?

“And yes, I would have done, even with all of the challenges that we're facing now. CILEX has changed my life in ways that I could have never imagined, and I'm immensely proud to be part of this community.”

In her first address to members since taking over as CEO in September, Jennifer Coupland said that “the values you adhere to, what you do and how everyday you change the world is what drew me to the role”.

CILEX CEO, Jennifer Coupland

In the face of Mazur, she went on, there was a choice to make: “We could let this ruling undermine us or we could come together to build back better.” Her choice was the latter.

She outlined the work that was being done to address Mazur and said it also “really makes us need to focus on some of the big strategic questions for the profession for the next five to 10 years”.

Ms Coupland explained: “In light of all of this, how do we protect and grow the CILEX profession? How do we ensure that it recovers from the judgment and increases its reach and impact and leadership in the sector? How do we better support and advocate for our members going forward?

“And importantly for me, how can I lead the organisation in a way that regains the trust that has been dented as a result of this judgment?”

State support

One of the keynote speakers was Sarah Sackman KC MP, the minister of state at the Ministry of Justice with responsibility for the courts and legal services. She started off by thanking members of CILEX “for your skill, for your dedication and for your professionalism”, and CILEX itself “for being a champion of fairness, inclusion and opportunity in the law”.

She recalled her first encounter with a CILEX member while working at the Bar – Erin Alcock, now a senior associate in the human rights department at Leigh Day – as part of a team bidding to keep an urgent care centre open. “The perspective that she brought to her team, her dedication, her professionalism, it helped us in that instance to win the case.”

Ms Sackman acknowledged the uncertainty and anxiety caused by Mazur. While stressing that legal regulators were rightly independent of government, she went on: “I want you to know that I take the issue incredibly seriously… We'll do all that we can to move past it so that you can continue to thrive.”

Ministry of Justice officials “have been in constant dialogue with CILEX over recent weeks”, she said, and indeed the day before had met with Sara Fowler and Jennifer Coupland to discuss the impact the judgment was having “on real lives, on your work and on your ability to do what you do so well”.

Sarah Sackman KC MP: “Rest assured that I and my officials will be watching very closely, holding regulators to account where further action is required” 

She convened an urgent meeting in October with the Legal Services Board and frontline regulators, which assured her that the right steps were being taken. “But rest assured that I and my officials will be watching very closely, holding regulators to account where further action is required.”

Ms Sackman continued: “I want to give credit to Jennifer and her team for the speed and the transparency that they've shown in reacting and communicating with members, working on solutions and interacting with government.

“It's obviously been a tough time, but I have every confidence that we can address the issues, restore confidence to your members so that you can carry on doing what you do best, because there is no doubt that you form a vital part of our justice system.”

Indeed, the minister said CILEX was “at the vanguard” of championing diversity: “If we are going to truly serve the public, then we need to look like them. You are leading the way, which the bar, the solicitor profession, everybody can learn from.

“More than three-quarters of you are women and three-quarters state school educated. Nearly two-thirds of you were the first in your family to attend university and 16% are from an ethnic minority background. This is an engine of social mobility.

“But we have so much further to go in diversifying routes into the legal sector, bringing in new viewpoints, new approaches, new experiences. It enhances, modernises and refreshes our justice system.

“Crucially, it underpins access to justice. It makes sure that nobody out there feels that the system isn't there for them or that they won't get a fair hearing or that their problems will be dismissed or misunderstood.”

Ms Sackman stressed that, “at the end of the day, if you've got the knowledge, if you've got the skills, if you've got the competence and the commitment, that should be sufficient”.

She went on: “We are a government that is dedicated to this principle that where you are born or who your parents happen to be, what educational opportunities you were given shouldn't define your future career prospects or where you end up.

“None of those things should be a disadvantage. In fact, they should be an advantage because what they bring to the law and what has always kept the law dynamic, relevant and open is that we bring in all of our lives, in whatever area of law that you practice, a different way of seeing the world and a better understanding of the context and the circumstances where our clients are coming from.

“That's why CILEX matters so much, showing that talent can come from anywhere and that the traditional routes aren't the only ones worth taking. So, we'll continue to champion a wide range of routes into the legal profession and to reject any false suggestion that that means lowering standards. It raises them.”

This was why, the minister added, the government was working to remove barriers to CILEX Lawyers, such as the provision in the Victims and Courts Bill currently going through Parliament that will support Chartered Legal Executives to become Crown Prosecutors – currently the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is restricted in appointing legal professionals who are not solicitors and barristers. Widening the talent pool “is how we create a stronger justice system”, she said.

The minister also spoke about the “enormous strain” the justice system was under and the steps the Ministry of Justice was taking to tackle it. “The rebuilding effort is underway, but it's going to take time, it's going to take investment, it's going to take reform, and it's going to take fundamental modernisation.

“This is going to be a national team effort to restore our justice system to where it should be, all of us pulling in the same direction to keep the system moving.

“And that includes all of you. The work that you do – so often under the radar, but I hope you don't feel under-appreciated, certainly not by me or by government – is vital to the people you help, to the continued stability of our justice system and to society as a whole.”

Route to the bench

One of the ways that CILEX Lawyers have been proving what the minister said about CILEX’s role in the justice system is by taking up judicial appointments. The conference next heard from Fiona Monk, who has been a judge for 25 years, the last 18 of them in salaried positions, having previously been a solicitor handling employment and discrimination matters for Coventry Law Centre. She is currently President of the War Pensions and Armed Forces Compensation Chamber of the First-tier Tribunal.

She spoke about her journey into the law from a middle class, state school background with no connections to the law and said that “your biggest challenges in any career progression are your internal ones – your own lack of confidence or that you can’t do that job or be that person”.

Judge Fiona Monk

Saying that, she qualified in the late 1980s, at a time when there were “generally doubts” about female solicitors. “I’m not saying I faced lots of prejudice and bias, but over the course of a career you will face assumptions and challenges.”

But mentoring and encouragement from established colleagues were “crucial” in fostering her self-belief and motivating her to apply for the bench. Indeed, it was her local regional employment judge – who had given her a hard time over many years – who suggested before he retired that she might think about applying for the role. This was, she said, a “very unexpected source of encouragement”.

She failed in her first application to a salaried role and was “told off” by her supervising judge for being discouraged. She succeeded at the second attempt.

Ms Monk then became the regional employment judge in Birmingham – which she said was quite tough because she was leading judges who were mostly more senior men before whom she had appeared – and took on other responsibilities, such as being a commissioner of the Judicial Appointments Commission (JAC).

And yet, when in 2019 she applied for another senior post, the feedback from the JAC was that she was “not selectable” for a leadership role. This was “brutal”, the judge recalled, particularly as at the time she was the acting president of the tribunal she now leads. When the permanent role came up in 2020, she almost did not apply but explained how coaching helped her through.

She urged delegates to be brave and seek opportunities. “But you also have to be resilient, learn the lessons, take the knockbacks and come back from them.”

Ms Monk advised aspiring judges to collect examples that could be used in applications as they went along and to participate in outreach, mentoring and educational initiatives. Seek out mentoring too, she said.

“All of us have imposter syndrome – most of all, build your resilience.”

Only the start of the AI journey

The conference then broke into workshops, with Alan King, the founder of AI-Your-Org and host of the AI Evolution podcast, speaking about artificial intelligence (AI) at one of them.

You may think AI is already amazing, but he said there was a very long way to go: “If the journey is like climbing Everest, we’re not even on the bus to basecamp.”

Transformation, he asserted, was “unavoidable” and “AI will turn every part of an organisation inside out over the next decade”.

Mr King urged delegates to “fear irrelevance, not change”, as AI would automate mundane tasks, freeing up employees to focus on more creative and strategic work.

He highlighted five benefits of AI: greater efficiency; being able to create a personalised experience for clients, staff and other stakeholders; enabling new forms of collaboration; processing large amounts of data and providing insights; and enabling the development of new products and services, as well as improving existing ones.

The starting point, though, should be firm’s purpose, asking ‘Why should we use AI?’, ‘What future do we want to create with AI?’ and ‘What ethical boundaries and values will guide our use of AI?’ Only then should a firm determine its strategy – how will it use AI and where will it have most impact – before finally executing it.

Mr King said businesses should not see AI as an opportunity to save money. “I wouldn’t say use AI to do the same for less money. Spend the same and do more.”

What life throws at you

In the afternoon, delegates enjoyed an interactive session on building their confidence at work with Anna Manning, a former healthcare lawyer turned confidence coach, as well as breakout sessions to help them develop their careers.

They came back together to hear Mary Prior KC, the immediate past chair of the Criminal Bar Association, speak in an extremely no-nonsense manner about progressing through a legal career.

Mary Prior KC, immediate past chair of the Criminal Bar Association

Her parents left school at 14 – her father was a coal miner and her mother a barmaid – and she recalled how she grew up without books, help with homework, or money for treats. Her family lived on benefits after a mining accident, earning her the nickname ‘Benefits Bennett’ (her maiden name).

Despite these challenges, she earned a degree from a polytechnic (now Anglia Ruskin University) and, after working outside the law for a short while, got a job as a magistrates’ court clerk. The Court Service paid for her to qualify – she only became a barrister because the solicitor course was full.

Her life turned on that offer. “So, what's the difference between an unqualified and qualified person? Sometimes just what life throws at you.”

She qualified with the CPS and, after being offered redundancy some years later, secured a role at the only one of 40 chambers she applied to that offered a tenancy: Clock Chambers in Wolverhampton. “Everyone else who rejected me said a degree isn't good enough. You've got no experience in Crown Court. You've got children, you weirdo. Have you got any solicitors you can be bringing with you? You've got no connections in the business community.”

From there she worked across a range of practice areas before being headhunted to join what is now the 36 Group, where she is head of the crime team and a silk. “So, if I can do it, so can anyone else,” she said.

Ms Prior highlighted the importance of preparing for job applications. Research potential employers thoroughly, networking extensively, and approach interviews as a two-way process where candidates also evaluate firms. Be authentic rather than trying to be someone else and always be kind to everyone because “that person may be at university, finishing their degree, they'll get a job, they'll go way past you”.

Mary Prior KC: “Be stubborn and persistent, view ‘no’ as an obstacle to overcome rather than a final answer” 

She concluded by urging delegates to recognise their achievements: “For every one of you who made it, there are at least 10 people who didn't.” Be stubborn and persistent, view ‘no’ as an obstacle to overcome rather than a final answer. And once you are successful, "no one asks you any of that" about your background – you are judged on who you are at that time.

Soft skills are the hardest

The day closed with a debate about integrity, which the panelists defined as the foundation of trust in the legal profession and involving doing the right thing, even when it was unpopular or difficult, and behaving ethically when no one was watching.

Despite significant technological and economic changes, they said, the core purpose of law – serving human needs – remained unchanged. That means human-centric skills like empathy, communication and relationship-building were more critical than ever. Elizabeth Rimmer, CEO of LawCare, said these should not be dismissed as ‘soft skills’. She explained: “I think they're the hardest skills that we all have in daily practice.”

To thrive in the age of AI, legal professionals needed to adopt a mindset of curiosity and bravery, experimenting with new tools and facing the discomfort of change head-on, said Barbara Hamilton-Bruce, a former CILEX Council member and currently a partner and legal operations director at leading City law firm Simmons & Simmons.

“My other title is ‘Shepherdess of Kittens’, quite often trying to help people to see that they want to do things differently and that they will resist with every fibre of their being… Just be curious about what you're reading in the media, what you're seeing in the news, and have a think about how this might be relevant to your work and the problems that your clients are presenting.”

The speakers agreed that community and peer support were identified as crucial for resilience. Sharing experiences helped people realise they were not alone in their struggles, provided perspective, and created a stronger collective voice to address common issues.

After a day which brought together members from across the country to do just that, it was a fitting note to end on.