The Chartered Institute of Legal Executives has applied for permission to challenge the Mazur decision in the Court of Appeal.
The professional body said today that it had ‘serious concerns’ about the impact on the legal sector of Mr Justice Sheldon’s September ruling.
The judgment from 16 September has caused huge disruption in the profession after it established that unauthorised individuals were not permitted to conduct litigation even under supervision.
That finding called into question the business models of many law firms and introduced the risk that legal executives and paralegals had been acting unlawfully for years.
Although not party to the original proceedings, which concerned a client’s costs exposure when litigation had potentially been conduct by an unauthorised person, CILEX can ask the Court of Appeal to exercise its discretion to allow an appeal by a person negatively affected by the outcome.
It has set out a number of adverse impacts from the ruling, including delays in the court as judges query the status of some lawyers and satellite litigation springing up from the decision. There have also been delays in the administration of justice as government portals struggle with necessary updates.
CILEX, which has been criticised for the advice and guidance it provided before Mazur, says that firms and other organisations have had to change their business models at considerable cost, which will ultimately be passed onto clients. In extreme cases, lawyers have lost their jobs and firms are facing pressures to stay in business as a result of not being able to allow legal executives and paralegals to work under supervision.
CILEX chief executive Jennifer Coupland said: ‘CILEX was not invited to be heard as part of the original proceedings but we would like to be heard now. We believe that the issues, uncertainties and real-world impacts triggered by the judgment need to be fully ventilated through this appeal process.’
The organisation is being represented pro bono by a formidable team of regulatory experts: Nick Bacon KC, head of 4 New Square, and Iain Miller, a partner, and Stephen Nelson, senior associate, of City law firm Kingsley Napley. Miller is general editor of the authoritative textbook Cordery on Legal Services, while Nelson was until earlier this year head of legal at the Solicitors Regulation Authority.
Miller said: 'Our extensive work in advising law firms over the last two months on the implications of the Mazur decision has brought home to us the severe impact this decision has had not only upon CILEX members but also the legal profession as a whole. We hope the Court of Appeal is able to fully reconsider the issues.'
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