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Legal executives specialise in one area of law and carry out similar tasks to solicitors.
You could work: 9am to 5pm;
Your day-to-day duties will depend on your specialism. You could:
You could work at a police station, in a court or in an office.
You can get into this job through:
You could do a law degree, or a Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) if your degree is not in law. You would then do:
You'll usually need:
You could take the following college courses to qualify:
After completing a college qualification, you would do a 3-year period of qualifying employment. This means you'll carry out legal work under the supervision of a solicitor, senior chartered legal executive, barrister or licensed conveyancer.
You could do this in a legal practice, a legal department of a private company or in a government department.
You'll usually need:
You could take start by taking an advanced paralegal apprenticeship.
You could then move on to a chartered legal executive higher apprenticeship.
As part of these apprenticeships you will study to gain the following professional qualifications:
You'll usually need:
A lot of people work for a law firm and study for qualifications part time.
You could study for CILEx qualifications even if you're not working in a legal environment, as long as you meet their entry requirements. Qualifications may be studied full-time, part-time or by distance learning.
You'll still need some work experience to give you a chance of finding a job once you're qualified.
You can get more details about a legal executive career from:the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives; LawCAB
With experience, you could take on more complex cases and build up a large client base. You could also progress to leading a team of legal executives and secretaries, or become a practice manager in a law firm.
With further study, you could qualify as a solicitor.