role of legal executives

• most legal executives work for a firm of solicitors in private practice. their work is charged at an hourly rate in the same was as a solicitor is but it is likely to be charged at a lower rate.
• Legal executives can alsop work for local authorities, the crown prosecution service, and in company legal departments.
• A qualified legal executive will also need to be a fellow of the chartered Institute of legal executives (CILEX) , to have obtained the CILEX professional qualification and to have completed three years of supervised legal experience
• Legal executives are likely to specialise in a particular area of law, and their work is similar to that of a solicitor, although they tend to deal with more straightforward matters:

  • handle parts of a property transfer
  • assist in the formation of a company
  • draft wills
  • advise people with marital problems
  • advise clients accused of a crime, advise a client detained in a police station and the interviewer witnesses
• there are three different advocacy certificates that a legal executive can obtain:

  1. a civil proceedings certificate, which allows appearances in the county court
  2. a criminal proceedings certificate, it allows legal executives to make applications for bail or deal with cases in the youth court
  3. a family proceedings certificate, this allows appearances in the family court of the magistrates court