CILEX has made regulatory change and wider recognition of specialist lawyers key parts of its 2027–2031 strategy, bringing renewed attention to the rules governing legal executives.
Led by chief executive Jennifer Coupland, the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives says it will challenge barriers, outdated assumptions and unnecessary restrictions affecting its members, while seeking recognition of CILEX Chartered Lawyers alongside solicitors and barristers.
The five-year plan has four goals: creating a proud professional community, driving change and raising CILEX’s profile, providing legal education for a growing profession and building sustainable organisational foundations.
It commits CILEX to closer engagement with government, employers and regulators, including the Legal Services Board and Solicitors Regulation Authority, and to improving clarity around membership grades, professional titles and practice rights.
The reform programme has direct relevance to the Legal Services Act 2007, which provides the statutory framework for legal services regulation in England and Wales. CILEX is an approved regulator for five reserved legal activities and delegates its regulatory functions to CILEx Regulation.
The Act identifies six reserved legal activities, including rights of audience and the conduct of litigation, making questions of authorisation and professional status significant for firms employing CILEX lawyers, paralegals and other specialist staff.
The strategy follows the Court of Appeal’s decision in Mazur and another v Charles Russell Speechlys LLP and others [2026] EWCA Civ 369. The court held that an unauthorised person may lawfully perform tasks within the conduct of litigation for an authorised solicitor or appropriately authorised CILEX member, provided the authorised individual retains responsibility and puts suitable supervision, delegation and control arrangements in place.
CILEX, the Law Society, the SRA, the Legal Services Board, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers and the Law Centres Network were parties or interveners.
Several significant firms were involved in the appeal. Kingsley Napley instructed counsel for CILEX, Capital Law for the SRA and Russell-Cooke for the Law Society. Hogan Lovells International acted for the Legal Services Board, Irwin Mitchell for the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers and Allen Overy Shearman Sterling for the Law Centres Network.
CILEx Regulation recorded 1,165 practice-rights authorisations by 26 June 2026. The SRA has also stated in its draft 2026/27 business plan that it will not take forward further work on the possible redelegation of the regulation of CILEX professionals while it concentrates on its current remit. CILEX and CILEx Regulation will therefore continue working within the existing regulatory structure as the new strategy begins.
Law firms will need to ensure that job descriptions, supervision arrangements and promotion routes match the work each CILEX professional is authorised to carry out. Any reform of reserved activities or professional terminology could also affect how firms delegate work, recruit specialist lawyers and describe their responsibilities in contracts, policies and court documents.