CILEx approved as ABS licensing authority
The Lord Chancellor has approved the application by CILEx Regulation made on behalf of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives’ (CILEx) to license alternative business structures (ABS).
This will enable members to set up their own businesses with non-lawyer ownership and investment, regulated by CILEx Regulation, the Institute’s independent regulatory arm.
The application was first approved by the Legal Services Board and today Lord Chancellor David Gauke backed its decision. An order will be laid in Parliament in due course to designate CILEx as an ABS licensing authority under the Legal Services Act 2007.
CILEx Regulation chair Sam Younger said:
“This is excellent news. It will allow us to license ABS firms, building on the practice rights and entity regulation that we already offer.
“It will both increase opportunities for CILEx practitioners and deliver a wider choice of regulator for all providers of legal services.
“It recognises too that CILEx Regulation delivers an outcomes-focused, risk-based, proportionate and flexible regulatory regime fit for the future of legal services.”