ILEX
Legal Executives are qualified lawyers with at least five years of experience working under the supervision of a solicitor in legal practice or the legal department of a private company.
They will have passed their qualifying examinations in their area of legal practice to the same level as that required of solicitor.
Fellows are issued with an annual practising certificate and only Fellows of ILEX may describe themselves as "Legal Executives"
Most trainee Legal Executives combine study for the Ilex qualifying study with the practical experience of working in a law firm or legal department.
N.B. It is not a criminal offence for those who are not qualified through the Institute to call themselves a "Legal Executive". However, the Law Society stipulates that only Fellows of the Institute should be allowed to describe themselves as a "Legal Executive" to clients.
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N.B. A fee earner described himself as a "Fellow of Ilex" although he did not have an annual practising certificate for which a yearly fee has to be paid. (Apparently had never had one).
When a complainant, who had been shocked to find that the fee earner he believed to be a solicitor was neither a solicitor nor a Legal Executive reported him to the OSS, the firm still insisted to the OSS that he was a "Legal Executive". The complainant protested about this to the OSS and protested too that he should not have had to pay for the services of a clerk, a clerk moreover who apparently was not supervised. The OSS then said in effect that it could not adjudicate on matters which were for the court to decide and did not challenge how the fees were charged.
However,when the case was put into Court the firm gave his true status, which is "clerk."
Evidently it is not criminal for solicitors to lie to the OSS when they are being investigated under "Inadequate Professional Service."