Legal regulators must do more to open up access to the profession, says CILEX

4 March 2026

Legal regulators are not doing enough to open up the flexible pathways into a legal career that are needed to improve diversity in the sector, says CILEX (Chartered Institute of Legal Executives).

Greater expectations and incentives should be introduced to encourage them to create new pathways into practice or provide more flexibility within current qualification routes.

Responding to the Legal Services Board (LSB) consultation on its draft policy statement on encouraging a diverse legal profession, CILEX says: “Such flexibility is often not in great evidence, in CILEX’s view, and regulators need to display greater agility to respond to sector issues sooner if demand outstripping supply is to be meaningfully met.”

Regulators should also be free to develop their own enhanced expectations, taking into account knowledge of their own specialist area of the legal profession and their understanding of where they are able to take the swiftest and most effective measures to improve diversity.

CILEX wants to see consistent regulatory standards across all areas of the profession for authorised persons returning to the law or moving between sectors. Without this, it warns, there is a danger of a “race to the bottom” which would see such practitioners “simply gravitate to the lowest achievable standard”, undermining consumer protection and public confidence.

Changes to workplace culture are key to promoting a diverse profession, however CILEX cautions that it takes a significant amount of time to affect cultural change in a conservative sector, with many barriers rooted in broader societal issues. Its response highlights the particular difficulties experienced by the UK arms of US law firms, saying they should be dealt with “sensitively” given the current US administration’s antipathy towards diversity and inclusion initiatives.

CILEX’s response also calls upon the LSB to be more strategic in supporting initiatives across the profession, highlighting CILEX’s own efforts to improve diversity in key areas of legal practice. There had been “little active support” for CILEX’s many years of work to open up judicial appointments to those members who met the required levels of qualification and competence, despite CILEX’s membership being the most diverse in the profession.

Similarly, in the criminal legal aid sector where there is a shrinking cohort of duty lawyers, CILEX has worked hard to evidence the equivalence of CILEX members’ qualification and competence to take on those roles but has, “ploughed this furrow alone”.

CILEX President Sara Fowler says: “Everyone recognises the importance of the legal sector representing the society it serves and making a legal career accessible to all. While measures such as data collection are important, we need to focus on practical improvements that use existing evidence and good practice to make real change.

“The expectation should be on regulators to consider how they can proactively open up new routes into the profession or make existing routes more flexible without compromising on standards. This is particularly important in areas of high unmet legal need where more practitioners are required to service demand.”

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.