18 July 2011

ILEX welcomes its 48th President

The Institute of Legal Executives (ILEX) has welcomed Susan Silver as its 48th president and celebrated a 50/50 split of men and women on its council for the first time.

After studying for her lawyer qualifications, while raising a family Susan Silver, 60, will now oversee the continued development of ILEX until July 2012.

“I am so proud to have been elected as ILEX’s new president” says Susan. “We are at an exciting time where we continue to gain more and more benefits for our members and more and more people are realising the importance of organisations like ours in achieving their goals of a successful legal career.

“We are an organisation that shows you can be from any background and still achieve a very successful career in law if you are prepared to work hard. Promoting diversity is an ongoing priority of ILEX and I am even more proud when I see that I am the first president to oversee a council that is 50% female for the first time ever.”

Helping Susan along the way will also be ILEX’s new Vice President, Nick Hanning and new Deputy Vice President Stephen Gowland.

Susan is no stranger to making a stand in law and it was while acting as a McKenzie friend to a friend who ran into financial difficulty that she was first attracted to law. After successfully defending her friend, the presiding Judge was so impressed with Susan’s conduct he could not believe she was not already a lawyer and recommended she pursue a legal career as soon as possible.

She then signed up to an ILEX course in 1993 while working with the Crown Prosecution Service for free, for three years, from there she entered private practice before setting up her own business in 2008 providing agency and consultancy work for law firms.

Picture shows (l-r) Stephen Gowland, Susan Silver and Nick Hanning

ENDS