Minister says government will do all it can to help legal executives move past the Mazur ruling
The minister for legal services has told chartered legal executives that the government will do all that it can to help them move beyond the uncertainty caused by the Mazur ruling. Speaking at the CILEX member conference in Birmingham, Ms Sackman, who is minister of state for courts and legal services at the Ministry of Justice, acknowledged the anxiety created by the judgment and pledged close engagement with regulators as they work on solutions.
Addressing delegates, she recognised the significant concern that the ruling has generated. She stressed that legal regulators are rightly independent of government but said she wanted CILEX members to know that she takes the issue incredibly seriously. She said the government would work to help the profession move past the ruling so that members can continue to thrive.
Ms Sackman said this was why she convened an urgent meeting last month with the Legal Services Board and frontline regulators. She said the meeting reassured her that the right steps were being taken, but she also made clear that she and her officials would continue to monitor developments closely and would hold regulators to account where further action is needed.
She praised the way CILEX has handled the situation, noting the speed and transparency of its leadership in communicating with members, identifying solutions and engaging with government. She said it had been a difficult period but expressed confidence that the issues can be addressed and that confidence can be restored among members. She emphasised that chartered legal executives form a vital part of the justice system.
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It later emerged that CILEX is seeking permission to appeal the Mazur ruling.
In her speech, Ms Sackman also thanked CILEX members for their skill, dedication and professionalism. She said CILEX has become a champion of fairness, inclusion and opportunity in the legal sector and said the wider profession could learn from its example. She highlighted the diversity of CILEX lawyers, noting that more than three quarters are women and three quarters are state school educated. She said nearly two thirds were the first in their families to attend university and 16% come from an ethnic minority background. She described CILEX as an engine of social mobility.
Ms Sackman said increased diversity strengthens and modernises the justice system and improves access to justice by ensuring that the public see a profession that reflects their own experiences and backgrounds. She said diversity helps ensure that nobody feels the system is not for them or that their problems will be misunderstood or dismissed.
She referred to legislative reforms designed to remove barriers for chartered legal executives, including a provision in the Victims and Courts Bill that will allow them to become Crown Prosecutors. At present, the Crown Prosecution Service cannot appoint lawyers who are not solicitors or barristers. Ms Sackman said that widening the pool of legal talent is essential to creating a stronger justice system.
Turning to the wider challenges facing the justice system, she warned that the system is under enormous strain. She said the rebuilding effort will require time, investment, reform and fundamental modernisation. She called for a national team effort, with everyone pulling together to keep the system functioning effectively. She said the work carried out by CILEX members is vital to clients, to the stability of the justice system and to society as a whole.
CILEX President Sara Fowler said the minister’s visit offered comfort at a difficult time for chartered legal executives. She said the minister’s remarks were a valuable reminder of the role CILEX professionals play in legal services and in the wider market. She described the conference as an opportunity for the community to celebrate its identity and to look ahead to the future it wants to build.