CILEX seeks to appeal Mazur ruling

18 November 2025

CILEX (the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives) has applied for permission to appeal to the Court of Appeal against the Mazur judgment.

Since Mr Justice Sheldon’s judgment was handed down on 16 September, CILEX has held serious concerns about its impact on the legal sector: on the public, on firms and on lawyers, including but not limited to its own members.

CILEX’s monitoring has identified several adverse impacts, including:

Delays in the courts (i) as judges query the status of some lawyers and (ii) through satellite litigation over costs.
Delays in the administration of justice, as various government portals struggle with consequential updating.
Lawyers losing their jobs.
Firms and other organisations having to change their business models at considerable cost – which ultimately will be passed onto clients – and detriment to the competitiveness and speed of their services. In extreme cases, it could even affect the viability of their businesses.

Although not party to the original proceedings, CILEX is relying on the Court of Appeal’s discretion to permit an appeal to be brought by a person adversely affected by the outcome. The action is not seeking to affect the outcome of the case in terms of the costs awarded by the court; it is focused on matters of principle.

CILEX chief executive Jennifer Coupland said: “CILEX was not invited to be heard as part of the original proceedings but we would like to be heard now. We believe that the issues, uncertainties and real-world impacts triggered by the judgment need to be fully ventilated through this appeal process.”

CILEX is being represented pro bono by leading lawyers in the field: Nick Bacon KC, head of 4 New Square – renowned for his costs work and professional disciplinary and regulatory practice – and Iain Miller, a partner, and Stephen Nelson, senior associate, of City law firm Kingsley Napley. Mr Miller is general editor of the authoritative textbook Cordery on Legal Services, while Mr Nelson was until earlier this year head of legal at the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

ENDS

For further information, please contact:

Louise Eckersley, Black Letter Communications on 0203 567 1208 or email at [email protected]

Kerry Jack, Black Letter Communications on 07525 756 599 or email at [email protected]

Notes to editors:

CILEX (The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives) is one of the three main professional bodies covering the legal profession in England and Wales. The approximately 18,000 -strong membership is made up of CILEX Lawyers, Chartered Legal Executives, paralegals and other legal professionals.

CILEX pioneered the non-university route into law and recently launched the CILEX Professional Qualification (CPQ), a new approach to on-the-job training that marries legal knowledge with the practical skills, behaviours and commercial awareness needed by lawyers in the 2020s.

The CPQ is a progressive qualification framework that creates a workforce of specialist legal professionals, providing a career ladder from Paralegal through to Advanced Paralegal and ultimately full qualification as a CILEX Lawyer. CILEX Lawyers can become partners in law firms, coroners, judges or advocates in open court.

CILEX members come from more diverse backgrounds than other parts of the legal profession:

76% of its lawyers are women
16% are from ethnic minority backgrounds
- 8% are Asian or Asian British
- 5% are Black or Black British
- 3% are from a mixed ethnic background
77% attended state schools
63% come from families where neither parent attended university
Only 3% of its members have a parent who is a lawyer.

CILEX members are regulated through an independent body, CILEx Regulation. It is the only regulator covering paralegals.