CILEx granted right to license new ABS enterprises

CILEx Regulation has been granted the right to license new alternative business structures (ABS), in a development touted as good news for legal executives, who could benefit from expanded career opportunities.

Members of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx) will now be able to set up their own businesses with non-lawyer ownership and investment, while subject to oversight by CILEx Regulation, the independent regulatory offshoot of CILEx. The move is aimed at increasing competition in the legal services market.

Legal executives make up a much more diverse group than other types of lawyer – 74% of legal executives are women while 18% are BAME – so it is hoped that new ABS organisations licensed by CILEx will be similarly diverse. Millicent Grant, the president of CILEx, said that this “can assist in developing consumer choice and finding better ways to deliver better services.”

Sam Younger, chair of CILEx Regulation, said that the decision “will both increase opportunities for CILEx practitioners and deliver a wider choice of regulator for all providers of legal services.”