ILEX is solution to diversity, says Clegg

In a recent speech to the Financial Services Lawyers Association, Nick Clegg said that the legal profession must radically improve diversity. As reported in The Times and Legal Week, the deputy prime minister told lawyers: "A fair society is an open society - and the professions urgently need to be opened up. The legal profession has made some progress, but not enough. You have to do better. You have to open your doors wider. Your profession judges and represents people in court - so it should represent them in membership too."

Clegg went on to suggest that other routes into the profession, such as the Institute of Legal Executives (ILEX), represented a "huge part of the solution" to the problem: "One area in particular that I think is crucial is looking at alternative routes in to the profession, giving people second chances, and non-graduate entry routes. The ILEX group offers the only route to becoming a qualified lawyer that is open to all, regardless of education, social status or background."  

He highlighted the fact that three out of four of the 22,000 legal executives, trainee legal executives and paralegals in existence are women, and that that 85% come from families where neither parent is university educated. "But at the moment only a minority of posts are filled by this route," he said. "So if you are serious about social mobility, it seems to be that a huge part of the solution lies right on your doorstep - or at least back in your offices."