Richardson: Paralegals are critical to the operation of many firms
CILEX has introduced the first formal recognition of paralegals after receiving Privy Council approval to amend its Royal Charter and introduce the title of CILEX chartered paralegal.
Alongside this, CILEX has launched a public register of all those in CILEX’s paralegal membership grades.
CILEX chartered paralegal status is available to members who have been working in a legal role for over five years and can demonstrate extensive legal knowledge and competence. They will be able to use the designatory letters ‘PCILEX’ after their names.
Chartered status provides what is believed to be the first formal protection of a paralegal title.
It comes with “clear standards and independent regulation” and will “promote public confidence in the delivery of legal services and justify commensurate charging rates”, CILEX said.
“‘Chartered’ is a title that has credibility with the public, indicating that a person is a professional being held to a set of standards. It will provide reassurance and help distinguish between regulated and unregulated persons.”
The Royal Charter change also enables new titles for Fellows, or chartered legal executives, linked to their area of specialism, such as ‘CILEX chartered property lawyer’, but the institute is not introducing these yet.
Applicants for chartered paralegal status must complete a detailed application outlining how they have met the requirements of the qualification, with a referee to validate the information, and then undergo an interview with an assessor to confirm they have the required competence level.
CILEX chartered paralegal is set at level 5 on Ofqual’s regulated qualifications framework, equivalent to a foundation degree.
Those with between two and five years of experience can be CILEX paralegals, set at level 3 (equivalent to A-levels). Chartered legal executives are at level 7 (post-graduate, equivalent to solicitors and barristers).
CILEX president Yanthé Richardson said: “This is a significant step to support people who have built careers in the legal profession in non-traditional ways. Paralegals are critical to the operation of many firms and recognition of their abilities and experience is long overdue.
“CILEX chartered paralegal status benefits them, employers, consumers and also the wider public interest.
“This new cadre of experienced and accountable professionals will do much for the provision of legal services, by raising standards and also injecting greater diversity, given the unique make-up of CILEX’s members.”
Around a third of CILEX members are chartered legal executives, and as such are ‘authorised persons’ under the Legal Services Act 2007, like solicitors.
However, the rest of the 20,000-strong membership are paralegals and students, and not authorised persons. They are nonetheless still regulated by CILEX Regulation.
The new titles form part of changes at CILEX that may yet also lead to it changing regulator from CILEX Regulation to the Solicitors Regulation Authority, work on which continues.
The Law Society has consistently opposed this and yesterday also attacked the ‘chartered lawyer’ title – although it said nothing about chartered paralegals.
President Richard Atkinson said: “The chartered lawyer title promoted by CILEX simply adds another layer of confusion and complexity for consumers.
“Research we conducted in October 2023, supports the view that the term ‘lawyer’ is widely understood by consumers to refer to solicitors and barristers. It is therefore misleading to use it as a description of legal executives, who already have their own perfectly accurate and appropriate title.”
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