CILEX PRACTICE RIGHTS
What are practice rights?
CILEX practice rights is a process of the formal granting by CILEX Regulation of authorisation to allow qualified CILEX Lawyers to provide certain types of legal services independently, without the supervision of a Solicitor or another CILEX Lawyer. The rights enable lawyers to practice in reserved areas of law, for example, conveyancing, probate and immigration.
Achieving practice rights gives permission to act as a lawyer in a chosen specialism, meeting regulatory standards, taking instructions and representing clients directly.
Do I need practice rights?
Without practice rights you may not be allowed to work unsupervised. In some areas of practice having the rights can give you independence of practice, may increase your prospects for promotion and your earning potential. You can achieve greater career flexibility and may choose to practice in a law firm, an in house legal team or to set up your own practice. Practice rights can be key to professional freedom and credibility.
How can I achieve practice rights?
CILEX Professional Qualification (CPQ) graduates will gain practice rights as part of their qualification. If you are a legacy learner or graduate, you have 3 routes at the time of publishing, by which you can gain practice rights:
- With 5 years’ experience in a particular practice area you can make an application with supporting evidence to CILEX Regulation (an application and portfolio).
- With 5 years’ experience in your practice area you can sit an exam with University of Law.
- With less than 5 years’ experience, you can take a course and sit an exam with University of Law.
These three routes are subject to regular review by the Legal Services Board and one or more of them can be withdrawn in the future, they will of course be withdrawn when no longer needed because all study is via CPQ.
How might I use practice rights in my career?
Practice rights are offered by CILEX Regulation in the following practice areas:
- Immigration
- Civil litigation
- Criminal litigation
- Family litigation
- Conveyancing
- Probate
(Please note that advocacy is also compulsory for civil, criminal or family litigation at the time of publication).
If you practice in one of these areas of law or you want to, practice rights can enable you to practice unsupervised and ensure parity with other kinds of lawyers. CILEX Lawyers are fee earners, they can become partners, set up their own organisations, apply for advocacy rights if appropriate and apply to the judiciary in certain circumstances.
What are related job titles?
When you complete your study and your qualifying experience, evidenced by work based learning, you will become a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives and CILEX Regulation will award you (subject to professional conduct checks, DBS etc) the title of Chartered Legal Executive with an endorsement in brackets for the area of law you practice in, so for example, Chartered Legal Executive (Conveyancing). This is your regulated title. If you are a Chartered Legal Executive in an area of practice where practice rights are offered, your practice may be limited if you don’t have those practice rights and you will be unable to practice unsupervised.
When CILEX created their CILEX Professional Qualifications, in response to changing regulatory and statutory requirements and to future proof the role of CILEXers, giving parity with Solicitors, they created the new title of CILEX Lawyer. This title indicates the top qualification level in the CILEX framework. This is someone who has completed study, QE&WBL and has their practice rights. You can apply to CILEX, with your employer, to be designated as a CILEX Lawyer if you work in an area where practice rights are not offered.
If you’d like advice on your own route to practice rights, you can visit https://cilexregulation.org.uk/i-am-an-applicant/cilex-practitioner/ and you can join the Brightlink WhatsApp community group for practice rights at https://chat.whatsapp.com/FyxJOJh6tH90tBU7aXMuYJ?mode=ems_copy_t