Legal executive lawyer - the smart choice for trainees? - Article submitted by ILEX

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Legal executive lawyers- the smart choice for trainees?

Noel Inge, the MD of the ILEX Tutorial College, suggests an alternative route for trainees

There’s a quiet revolution going on in the legal industry driven by the relentless pressure on costs and changes to regulation of the professions. Not all law firms are reacting in the same way- or at all yet, but there is nonetheless a palpable feeling that the way legal business is conducted in the future is going to be transformed. How will these changes manifest themselves? The current constraints on who can provide legal services will loosen under the Legal Services Act 2007 to provide opportunities for large corporations to enter the arena. ‘Tesco law’ as it is sometimes known is already emerging, with the Co-operative and AA already offering legal services. To gauge the reaction of some lawyers to this trend, the following article makes interesting reading.

So how does all this affect those who want to join the legal profession? Superficially, things have improved for prospective solicitor trainees: to the year ended 31 July 2008 the Law Society registered 6,303 new traineeships, an increase of 4.8 per cent on the previous year. However, given the economic downturn a similar increase in 2009 would be very surprising. Anecdotally the fact that trainees are being asked to defer commencement of their training contracts does not bode well for those who want to become solicitors.

Assuming things are not going to improve anytime soon for those aspiring to become solicitors then it is worthwhile thinking about alternative career routes in law. In doing so one misconception must be laid to rest: if your ultimate aim is to be an advocate or partner in a law firm then you have to become a solicitor or barrister. Where law firms have converted their status to Legal Disciplinary Partnerships (LDPs) legal executive lawyers can become partners. The first wave of legal executive lawyer partners has already been appointed with more in the pipeline. Added to this there are now nearly fifty legal executive advocates who are qualified to appear in open court in relation to criminal, civil and family matters. The opening up of judicial appointments to legal executive lawyers is also likely to increase the attractiveness of this branch of the profession. Having qualified, legal executive lawyers can be confident that their opportunities for career development are likely to increase in the future.

Many potential lawyers are now turning to ILEX because of the inherent flexibility of its qualification. Typically trainee legal executives acquire their academic qualifications while in full time employment, perhaps by studying through supported distance learning with ILEX’s own college, ITC (see ILEX Tutorial College - Home ). They will usually start their careers as legal support staff in law firms, local and central government departments and agencies, banks, insurance firms, other private sector organisations and charities. The fact is that this often provides more opportunity to gain access to the legal sector compared to the fruitless search for a training contract. There’s also a special route for law graduates called the ILEX Graduate Fast-Track scheme which recognises that law graduates will already possess some of the knowledge required to become a legal executive lawyer.

The total cost of becoming a legal executive for someone completing the whole route is less than £6,000, a cost which is incurred incrementally. It provides peace of mind for students who do not want to run the risk of committing financially to the LPC/training contract lottery. The ILEX qualification can be used by those who don’t want to become a legal executive lawyer: ILEX also has a category of membership for students, support staff, and paralegals as well as qualified legal executive lawyers.

The route to becoming a legal executive lawyer is explained at ILEX Tutorial College - How to qualify . For those who want to become solicitors then that too is possible through ILEX. Its qualification can be used to achieve the CPE incrementally and by fulfilling the five years’ qualifying employment requirement for legal executive lawyers it is possible in most cases to achieve automatic exemption from the solicitor’s training contract. You should note that this option is only available to qualifying employment acquired before the commencement of the LPC. Since this exemption is in the gift of the SRA you should always check that your eligibility.

If you are interested in a career as a legal executive lawyer then do get in touch. I can be contacted by e-mail at: n.inge@ilex-tutorial.ac.uk

I look forward to hearing from you.