LEGAL PERSONNEL - Legal executives PAPER 1

Question 1

Role of legal executives

Answer 1

person has to have obtained the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEX) qualification, and completed three years supervised legal experience.
Much like a solicitor, Legal executives usually work in a firm of solicitors or can work for the CPS or private companies.
Legal executives often specialise in a particular area of law, and perform similar work to a solicitor, but usually deal with more straightforward matters. For instance, advising clients; writing formal documents etc.
To appear in court, legal executives can obtain different advocacy certificates, but these are usually only for lower courts such as the county or youth court.

Question 2

Explain how legal executives are regulated/disciplined / explain how complaints against legal executives will be handled

Answer 2

ILEX publishes a code of conduct. CILEX regulation board can investigate complaints about legal executives.
summary of the investigation’s findings are then put to the Professional Conduct Panel, who consider if there has been misconduct. If there is a finding of misconduct, the legal executive can be warned/reprimanded by the panel.
Serious - Disciplinary Tribunal can warn/reprimand the legal executive, or order a fine or exclusion of the executive.
if a complainant is unhappy with the decision of the panel, the Legal Services Act 2007 allows a complain to be made to the legal ombudsman
It is likely that legal executives can be sued for breach of contract or negligence, just like solicitors.