The CILEX Foundation

We are the CILEX Foundation, an independent registered charity. We aim to diversify the legal sector by providing academic awards and career enhancing opportunities to students who may otherwise face challenges. Since 2021 we have made over £275,000 in Scholarships, Bursaries and Grants to aspiring Law students and trainee CILEX Lawyers. You can get involved in our work: ◾ By funding our important work - a donation will help us to provide fair opportunities for legal education and training. You can donate here: https://lnkd.in/es-5WyKS ◾ By promoting us to your professional networks. ◾ By offering your professional skills and volunteering with us. Contact us to discuss how you, your firm or your networking group can work with us to make the legal sector a fair and accessible place to study and work. Look out for our posts on #socialmobility #legaleducation #wideningparticipation #careerdevelopment ◾ Interested in studying Law, but not sure where to start? Speak to our friends at CILEX for information.

2024 has been a record-breaking year for the CILEX Foundation. Here’s a round-up of our year in figures: 2 – the number of new Trustees who were appointed to the CILEX Foundation board in 2024. We welcomed Abbey Webb and Christine Baer to the board this spring. 20 - the number of kilometres trekked by Team CILEX walkers who completed both routes of the London Legal Walk in a single day to show support for the CILEX Foundation… £2000 …the amount the ardent walkers raised by completing their ‘double walk’ challenge. Thanks to our walkers and those who donated generously. 30 minutes – the length of our newly launched ‘Application confidence’ workshops. Designed to help individuals who were applying for Scholarship or Bursary funds, ensuring they had the best chance of success.  105 – the number of professional volunteer hours provided to the CILEX Foundation during the first two weeks of June this year. Our volunteers – all senior legal professionals – assisted with shortlisting Scholarship application forms, or interviewing candidates. 10 – the number of new students awarded Scholarship funding in 2025. With 5 full awards and 5 ‘Launchpad to Law’ awards, we were pleased to support emerging talent to take their first steps in Legal education. 13 – the number of full Bursaries awarded to CILEX members in August. Our generous bursary funding enables members to continue their CILEX learning without fear of financial constraints. 1 – the number of new programmes piloted. The Millicent Grant Career Enhancing programme provides Scholarship and Bursary students with the chance to access mentoring and career sponsorship, networking opportunities and career enhancing activities. We kicked off in November with the LinkedIn for Student Lawyer Masterclass, courtesy of TBD Marketing ltd. 3 – the number of delegates who attended the inaugural CILEX Conference to represent the CILEX Foundation. Our Charity Lead was joined by a member of our volunteer panel, as well as one of our funded bursary students. £124,000 – the value of Scholarship and Bursary awards made to aspiring students this summer. Our awards allow talented and ambitious students to reach their full academic potential and to thrive in the legal sector. 5 – the number of years the CILEX Foundation has been a registered Charity. We think reflecting on the success of 2024 are a fitting way to celebrate our fifth birthday! The CILEX Foundation would like to hear from you in 2025. Are you interested in Social Mobility and ‘giving back’ to the profession. Perhaps you are part of a professional network that could partner with the CILEX Foundation to create accessible opportunities for the next generation of CILEX Lawyers. Are you a business owner or leader looking at meaningful ways to engage with the legal community? Contact our Charity Lead Dominique Edell to find out more. 

Interesting insights from Flex Legal's Future Lawyer Report. With themes of finances, time taken to qualify and work-life balance featuring, this report highlights some familiar challenges facing early-career legal professionals. The CILEX Foundation aims to face those challenges head on - through our grant funding programme we can provide those studying or working in junior roles the opportunity to study flexibly AND earn whilst gaining experience. Our Scholarship and Bursary awards will reopen for applications in late spring 2025. Follow us to keep up to date with opportunities. #DEI #DiversityInLaw #LegalSector #LawStudents #EarlyCareersInLaw #Scholarships #Bursaries #Grants #Funding

Congratulations to CILEX paralegal Charlie M. who has been appointed to O Shaped's Future Board. Charlie is in good company - our own Trustee Christine Baer made it onto their inaugural O List this year. Please follow O Shaped's page to learn more about how they work for positive change for the Legal Sector and those who work in it. #LegalSector #FutureLawyers #Law #DEI #DeliveringChange #PositiveCulture

It may be too early to think about your new year's resolutions, but it's not too early to think about how you will achieve your career goals in 2025. Whether you apply for our generous Full Scholarships, a Member's Bursary, or one of our Launchpad Awards, we will continue funding legal education for aspiring law students - no matter their backgrounds. Follow this page for news about our 2025 funding cycles. (want to know more about the CILEX qualification route? Join resident expert Lydia Jones and the team at the last online info session of the year - link in comments). #DEI #AccessToLaw #WideningOpportunities #Scholarships #Bursaries #AcademicAwards

Do you work with someone who’d make a great lawyer? Maybe they are a Law Graduate or have been working in Law for some time, and are ready to explore the next stages of their career. Could you encourage a colleague to take that next step? The CPQ information sessions are a good way of finding more about the CILEX Professional Qualification - whether you are ready to study, or are supporting colleagues as they develop their legal careers. Click on the link in Jon Woodcock’s post to register. #SupportInLaw #CILEX #LegalSector #LawStudents

If you are a regular visitor on LinkedIn, you may have read posts from ‘Super Influencer’ Jen Shipley championing Lawyers from all backgrounds and promoting the CILEX qualification route as an equivalent means of entering the sector. We were therefore delighted to see that her positive and encouraging posts have earned her the number 1 spot on the TBD Marketing Ltd Legal Influencer ranking. #congratulations Marketing Guru Simon P MARSHALL from TBD recently provided training for some of our Scholarship and Bursary students, giving them a masterclass in how to harness LinkedIn as a student lawyer. We cannot thank Simon enough for generously supporting our students, and wholeheartedly recommend contacting him to discuss your legal marketing and personal branding needs. Who knows, there could be a CILEX member appearing on his Top 100 list soon? #CILEX #Paralegals #Lawyers #Legal #LinkedInForLawyers

Later this week, join our friends at LawCare - the mental health charity for the legal sector as they raise awareness of stress in the Legal sector. #StressAwareness #WellbeingInLaw #LegalSectorCareers

On the final day of our anniversary celebrations, we'd like to give thanks and highlight the work of our fantastic professional volunteers. In June 2024, our volunteers clocked up an impressive 100 hours of time, given freely to support our charitable work. From recently qualified CILEX Fellows, to Judges and Business Leaders, our professional volunteers bring with them experience of life in the legal sector, and a shared enthusiasm for making the legal sector a diverse and accessible place to work and study. Our voluntary opportunities are interesting and varied - from assessing applications for Scholarships, sitting on interview panels for our Widening Participation awards, to speaking with groups of students about your own journey to Law or practice area. And not forgetting our volunteers from the world of legal marketing, business and recruitment, who generously give their time to support our early career law students as they step onto the career ladder. Together, our team of professional volunteers help us, to make access to legal education and opportunities a reality for students, who would otherwise face barriers to a legal career. THANK YOU! Does you firm allow time to volunteer for a good cause? If so, we'd love to hear about it - we could help you achieve your CSR goals in 2025. #DiversityInLaw #DEI #SocialMobility #ProfessionalVolunteering #CorporateVolunteering #CSR

On the fourth day of our anniversary celebrations, we'd like to introduce you to some of our strategic partners - those people and organisations who are as committed to social mobility and wellbeing in Law as we are. Our partnership with PayPlan began in 2022 and since then they have been providing expert money advice to our members and their families. By offering free financial health checks, and supporting those who are worried about money, they help our members achieve the financial wellbeing needed to concentrate on their busy careers and studies. The good people at Inclusie Club believe that there is life outside of the cities for talented and ambitious legal professionals. Their webinars and online sessions are accessible, relevant and champion opportunities for those who work 'outside of the box', be it niche law, in-house, regional, high-street or any other non-stereotypical legal practice. The Student Lawyer's annual mentoring programme - matching students with experienced legal professionals - has been very well received among our students. Likewise, The BAME Woman in Law's focus on amplifying voices and creating opportunities to thrive aligns to our own values, and we are proud allies and promoters of their events, activities and mentoring scheme. If you are CILEX qualified, and would like to explore opportunities to mentor through either of these schemes, please contact them direct for more information. #DEI #SocialMobility #OpportunitiesInLaw #VisibilityInLaw #LegalSector