CRL is the independent regulator, under the Legal Services Act 2007, of Chartered Legal Executives and other CILEX members, CILEx Authorised Entities and non-members with Practice Rights in the legal sector. We set and maintain standards in legal education, and in the work and services provided by the individuals and firms we regulate, which continues to expand beyond the original sole purpose of legal executives.

THE ROLE

We are fully independent of CILEX but share the objectives of promoting the interests of consumers and tackling the remaining barriers to Chartered Legal Executives realising their full potential. We are proud of the diversity of those we regulate: three quarters are women, and nearly half did not go to university.

The successful applicant will be joining CRL at a critical moment in time as we embark on an ambitious agenda to deliver forward-looking legal regulation for everyone. Last year we refreshed our strategy to take account of the rapidly changing legal services environment and over the next three years we have identified four key objectives to drive our new programme of work: promoting high standards and public trust; improving access to justice and consumer empowerment; promoting independent and sustainable regulation; and being an authoritative, inclusive and capable organisation.

We are also involved in important discussions on the future shape of regulation following CILEX’s decision three years ago to put forward proposals to redelegate our role to the Solicitors Regulation Authority. This raises fundamental legal and policy issues and contributing to the Board’s discussions on them over the coming months will be central to the Board’s work.

We are a small cohesive Board made up of myself as Chair and four Non-Executive Directors- 2 lay in addition to me and 2 with a professional background. We will be reviewing our governance in the coming year and enjoy positive and productive working relationships between the executive and non-executive directors. We aim to be innovative and transparent: nearly all our Board papers are on the website if you want to know more about what we do, and how we do it.

Alongside the other independent regulators, we are subject to oversight by the Legal Services Board, and enjoy a close working relationship with them, and the other legal regulators and representative bodies as well as the Legal services Consumer Panel. In our latest staff survey, colleagues said that they are proud to work for CRL and would recommend it as an organisation to friends and family – this is also testament to the skill and dedication of our staff and strong executive leadership team.

We’re looking for a high calibre individual, ideally with a finance and risk background, who will also bring a deep understanding of our regulatory role, and what it means. Additional insight into education would be an asset, given the role we play in standards. We also want to use this opportunity to keep improving the diversity of our Board and we invite applications from all sections of the community regardless of race, religion, disability, gender, sexual orientation or age.