The Legal Services Board has approved CILEx Regulation’s application to authorise standalone litigation practice rights. These come into force with immediate effect.
In implementing these changes, CRL is seeking to ensure that standards for authorisation in the conduct of litigation are maintained to protect the public interest and maintain trust in the competence of providers of reserved legal activities.
Following the ruling in the Mazur case, we expect a significant increase in the number of practice rights applications and have reviewed our processes to ensure that applications are processed as efficiently as possible consistent with the maintenance of standards.
CRL has been working with ULaw on their parallel assessment only and training and assessment routes to maximise their capacity. Further announcements will be made as these arrangements are finalised.
CILEX members with Fellowship status can now apply for standalone Litigation Practice Rights. We will shortly communicate directly with CILEX members about how to apply.
The Interim Guidance and other resources CRL has published are accessible on the Mazur Information Hub. Standalone Litigation Practice Rights – applications now open.
Jonathan Rees, CILEx Regulation chair commented –
I am pleased that the LSB has approved so quickly our application for standalone litigation rights. We began work on this earlier this year, and our application was supported by over 95% of respondents to our consultation who welcomed the option to gain stand-alone litigation practice rights to enable further career progression.
The timing of this approval is particularly significant in the light of September’s Mazur judgment. We recognise the huge distress and uncertainty caused to many of our regulated community by the judgment. The introduction of standalone litigation practice rights will give all those affected the opportunity to practise litigation independently. This will help to increase diversity in the legal profession and provide consumers with increased choice.
We recognise that demand for such rights may be high, and we have diverted and increased resources to cope with the expected rate of applications and streamlined and speeded up our assessment processes.
