ILEX hits the headlines

What a start to the year ILEX is having in the national media! Former President, Lesley Graham is turning into something of an ILEX celebrity this year, having recently appeared on the GMTV sofa with Lorraine Kelly. The interview followed Lesley's selection to appear in a key report, Closing the Gender Skills Gap, commissioned by the prestigious National Skills Forum.

Lesley was chosen as she represents an excellent example of a woman who has benefited from gaining skills and education that led to a career change later in her working life.

She has also been featured in The Sun newspaper, along with Council member Rachael Palmer – in the business section I hasten to add! The article summarised the benefits of the ILEX route to a legal career. We also have a feature on a Paralympian hopeful and Legal Executive in the current edition of Able magazine, and a member who is a martial arts expert featured in Health and Fitness magazine. All of this proves that the benefits of ILEX career route are now reaching an ever wider audience as part of our Profile Project.

Our house magazine 'The Legal Executive Journal' has received praise from its publishing peers winning the prestigious MemCom Award for the 'Best Magazine/Professional Publication/RoyalColleges'. This well deserved win was even praised in The Times legal pages. My heartiest congratulations to Editor, Neil Rose, and his team.

And we still have the exciting introduction of LDP'S to come at the end of March, where I am sure we will see the first ILEX partners announced.

On a more negative note, the signs are that the recession is really beginning to bite in the legal profession and the ILEX membership is not immune. We are aware of growing numbers of members sadly losing jobs as a result of cut backs.

If you have been affected, please do seek help and advice. ILEX has published some excellent information on this web site, along with contacts and links to organisations that offer advice for anyone who has lost their job. If you have been affected, do remember to keep your membership and your CPD up to date wherever possible. ILEX can offer help with spreading membership payments if required.

I know that good jobs are not exactly growing on trees at the moment, so to help keep the legal mind sharp while you are looking around, why not consider some voluntary work in an advice centre? As well as providing valuable experience, it may also open up alternative job avenues to you.

If your career path means you are considering a judicial appointment, now is also a good time to look at what is involved. While pro bono work will help maintain the edge and may give you experience in new areas, retraining is also an option and here the ILEX Tutorial College (ITC) offers substantial discounts for selected courses to members who are considering retraining or looking to study in a new area.

posted 18.02.09