Home grow your own lawyers through the ILEX route
There are good reasons why law firms and other organisations sponsor staff to become qualified lawyers while working in a paralegal capacity. An employee who displays the right attitudes and skills can become a higher-level fee earner or manager with the necessary qualifications.
Why choose the ILEX training route?
Investing in people can be expensive, so an organisation needs to be confident that their money, and/or time, is properly targeted to generate a return. Qualifying your staff to become lawyers through the ILEX route can be more cost-effective than the, often unquestioned, solicitor training route. Increasingly organisations are recognising that legal executive lawyers can make the same contribution as solicitor colleagues, but are less expensive to develop.
Training for the ILEX qualification leads to the development of competent, specialist lawyers. Whilst providing an all-round knowledge of key legal concepts, higher-level study is more focused than in the solicitor training route, so most of the knowledge and skills acquired can be selected to ensure that they are directly relevant to the sponsoring organisation' s business. This is in stark comparison to the LPC where a very expensive course covers a wide range of legal practice subjects, most of which will be unused by the student in his/her working life. The legal executive training route also incorporates key professional skills such as client care and legal research.
What is the cost?
The cost of training a paralegal to become a qualified legal executive is approximately £6,000
| Costs of training a paralegal with no relevant qualifications to become a legal executive |
| Year 1 |
ILEX Level 3 Certificate in Law and Practice (five units) course fees £985; ILEX membership fees £85; ILEX assessment fees £236
|
£1306 |
| Year 2 |
ILEX Level 3 Professional Diploma in Law and Practice (remaining five units - two unit bundle £510 plus three unit bundle £710) course fees £1220; ILEX membership fees £100; ILEX assessment fees £260 |
£1580 |
| Year 3 |
ILEX Level 6 law unit £475; ILEX Level 6 practice unit £495; ILEX Level 6 Client Care Skills unit £295; ILEX membership fees £145; ILEX assessment fees £229 |
£1639 |
| Year 4 |
ILEX Level 6 two law units £950; ILEX Level 6 Legal Research unit £295; ILEX membership £145; ILEX assessment fees £229 |
£1619 |
| |
Total |
£6144 |
| Costs of training a law graduate paralegal to become a legal executive |
| Year 1 |
ILEX Graduate Fast-track Diploma (two ILEX Level 6 practice units £990; ILEX Level 6 Client Care Skills unit £295; ILEX membership fees £180 (including first registration fee); ILEX assessment fees £229; ILEX exemption fee £200 |
£1894 |
These costs are for studying with ITC during the academic year 2010-11. Course fees are valid until 30 June 2011. Additional expenses such as travel to external examination centres and any examination re-sit fees have been disregarded. In some cases students may wish to purchase an additional extra expense text for Level 6 law units.
What is the business case?
In many cases the charge out rate for an experienced legal executive lawyer can be comparable to that of a solicitor, but the cost of training is significantly less. Throughout their training, legal executive lawyers gain expertise in legal skills such as legal research, client care and negotiation while acquiring expert knowledge in an area of practice. Most prospective legal executives can become fee earners well before they qualify, so the costs of training are being recouped by the sponsoring employer as they go along.
As well as the reassurance that you’ll develop your staff into effective specialist practitioners, there are further benefits to using the ILEX route. Legal executive lawyers are eligible for partnership in a LDP and, with additional training, can become advocates in criminal, civil or family matters. Should you prefer to train your staff to become solicitors then this can be achieved through the ILEX route too, with all of the benefits of gaining full ILEX qualification on the way.
To find out how to start your support staff, file handlers or paralegals on the road to becoming a legal executive lawyer please look at our 'How to qualify as a legal executive' page or, for law graduates, our 'ILEX Graduate Fast-track Diploma' page.