How about being a legal rock star?

Admit it; we’ve all been there, in front of a mirror hairbrush in hand or imaginary guitar practicing for when we’re going to be a famous singer or rock star.

 

But things change.

 

GCSEs and A-Levels come and go and now you’re ‘all grown up’ you suddenly realise your mum was right, you aren’t that good a singer anyway and maybe you need another idea of what you want to do with your life.

 

That’s why organisations like The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx) don’t judge you by what choices or ambitions you had when you were younger. In fact, we welcome members who aren’t afraid to think about the future and where they’d like to be when it comes.

 

One thing that’s made CILEx an industry leader in vocational legal training is that our members are dreamers. They dream of proving to their friends and old teachers that they can do it, they can reach the goals they set themselves and carry on even further. OK so that goal might now mean you have shorter hair and slightly less make up on, but being a lawyer is still pretty cool.

 

Kate Westley

 

One of our members already making waves is Katie Westley. At just 21 she’s already a Litigation Executive at MJP Law in Poole and earning quite a good wage at the same time. She tells us she chose not to go to uni as she wanted to “stand out from the crowd”. Unfortunately, possibly like you, Katie says she wasn’t encouraged at school: “I was told by my head of Sixth Form that I was going to be a failure if I attended university. That statement inspired me to prove them wrong.”

 

Katie continues: “I never intended on going to university as the lifestyle just wasn’t for me. I wasn’t afraid of starting as an office junior – CILEx has a clear career path and I’m happy to work my way up the ladder.”

 

But CILEx isn’t just open to those who want to go all the way to being a lawyer. We help legal support staff at all levels become the ‘rock stars’ of their firms too. In fact, CILEx is part of a group of organisations that was recently awarded £1million to create Higher Legal Apprenticeships by 2015. So if you are under 19 you could secure a trainee position in a law firm and have free training up to foundation degree level. You could then stay in that position, or carry on and join the thousands of other Chartered Legal Executive Lawyers earning competitive salaries in top law firms or in legal departments of big corporations like Disney, The Royal College of Nursing and T-Mobile. You might even decide to go into business with other lawyers and become your own boss; no one will stop you singing then.

 

To find out more about CILEx and the courses it offers, visit  www.cilexcareers.org.uk or call 01234 841000. You can also follow us on twitter @CILExLawyers.