Become a CILEX lawyer
CILEX is your route to a successful legal career, offering a fast-track route for SQE exemptions.
Your qualification route to success
- Become a lawyer in under 3 years: Fast-track your career with a practical, work-based qualification. You will need 3 years general legal experience and 2 years specialist experience prior to your application.
- Specialise early: Unlike the SQE, you choose your legal specialism and sit your exams with uncapped resit opportunities.
- Flexible and affordable: Study at your own pace, around your commitments, and with your SQE exemptions at a reduced cost.
- Practical skills employers want: CPQ combines learning with real-world experience, helping you build a job-ready skillset.
With CILEX your career is in your hands. Whether you want to work in a fast-paced law firm or as part of an in-house legal team, the possibilities are endless. As a CILEX Lawyer, you could even become a partner, a coroner, or a judge!
Trusted by top employers hiring CILEX members
How does it work?
If you have attempted SQE and found it wasn’t for you, you may be eligible for exemptions with CILEX.
If you do not have a law degree then you will take all or some of the CPQ, which has three stages:
- Foundation: Start your legal journey and gain paralegal status on completion, a rewarding career in itself.
- Advanced: Deepen your knowledge and expand your career options.
- Professional: Qualify as a CILEX Lawyer, with the right to practice unsupervised in your specialist field and at the same level as a solicitor.
If you have a law degree then you will take all or some of the CGQ, which has two stages:
- CGQ Stage 1 /Advanced: Deepen your knowledge and expand your career options.
- CGQ Stage 2 /Professional: Qualify as a CILEX Lawyer, with the right to practice unsupervised in your specialist field and at the same level as a solicitor.
Get started by submitting your current SQE status
18,000+ legal professionals
Become part of the CILEX community, supporting you to build your career at every stage.
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Build your job prospects
Over 70% of the top 200 law firms in the UK are hiring CILEX Lawyers, you could be one of them!
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Helping you reach your potential
Over 1,000 partners in law firms qualified with CILEX and are shaping the future of law.
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Interested to find out more?
Submit your current SQE status for a callback.
Learn more about CILEX qualifications including pricing, entry routes and how to study.
Join our free monthly webinar to find out more and ask your questions.
Carrie Clewes
Chattertons Solicitors
I chose the CILEX route rather than the solicitor route due to the freedom you get with choosing the units, choosing your timescales. You can work full time alongside CILEX so you can fit it in around your life rather than having to do it the old-fashioned route.
Maddie Jones
I had been looking at part-time uni courses, however it didn’t give me the same opportunities that CILEX did. I can work a full-time wage alongside learning, and I get to specialise and learn about all different types of law.
Lara Manley
You can put into practice what you learn in the classroom, you can learn in the classroom what you put into practice… they go hand in hand.
Ffion-Shan Warren
I definitely think CILEX is a good opportunity and that if you get the chance to do it, you should.
Lindsey
I definitely recommend the CILEX route. You can work at the same time and you can balance it around everyday life. You still get the end result ultimately.
Your career partner for life
When you choose CILEX you’re not just gaining a qualification, you’re joining a thriving community of over 18,000 legal professionals who support and inspire each other throughout their careers.
As a CILEX member you’ll benefit from:
- A wide range of learning resources and study aids to help you succeed
- Building connections at face to face events and online
- Career guidance and support at each stage of your career
- A dedicated customer support team to help you every step of the way.
With CILEX you’re never on your own – we’re with you from your first step into law to the peak of your career.
