What is a chartered legal executive?
A qualified lawyer who trained through CILEX rather than by taking a training contract or pupillage — and who holds named practice rights rather than a general practising certificate.
7,727 people hold that authorisation in England and Wales. Qualification is normally by working in legal practice while studying, so the route is open without a law degree and is taken disproportionately by people who came to law later, or without the means to spend years unpaid. The profession's shape reflects that: it is concentrated in conveyancing, family and private client work, and overwhelmingly employed rather than self-employed.
What someone can actually do depends on which of the 30 practice rights they hold, each with its own authorisation date, all of them on the public register. A chartered legal executive with litigation rights conducts litigation; one without them does not.