Jordan Higgs is a Litigation Executive in the Clinical Negligence Department at FBC Manby Bowdler in the West Midlands. He explains how he started his journey with CILEX in 2016 and, with years of experience, he'll soon be qualifying as a CILEX Lawyer.
It's no exaggeration to say that CILEX has given me the opportunity to achieve my dream career. When I was 14, I wanted to be a barrister, then I wanted to be a solicitor, and now I'm on my way to being a CILEX Lawyer.
Why did you take the CILEX route?
I started the CILEX route back in 2016, as soon as I finished my A levels. I could have gone to university – I had a place to study law – but the maintenance loans couldn’t put a roof over my head so CILEX was the best option for me; I could become a lawyer without having to go to university or having to get a training contract, which everyone knows are so difficult to get.
Since then I’ve worked my way up, gaining different experience in various legal roles within three firms, to the point now where I'll be qualifying this year. My first role was as a litigation administrator, dealing with defendants’ road traffic accidents (RTA). I then moved to a paralegal role at a top-100 firm doing clinical negligence. I'm currently at FBC Manby Bowdler where I've worked in the catastrophic injury team, dealing with high-value brain-injury and spinal-injury claims. And, when I qualify, I'll be working in the clinical negligence team as a CILEX Lawyer.
What role are you currently performing?
My current day-to-day work is dealing with client queries, helping with conferences with some of the UK is leading barristers, experts in neurology, neuropsychiatry, and orthopaedics, dealing with the courts and drafting legal documents. I am always working with the senior membership and the marketing team within the firm. So it's a very varied role and no day is really the same.
Sadly, things can go wrong in medical procedures – and when they go terribly wrong the patient may be entitled to compensation if it was caused by negligence. It's not about chasing million-pound pay-outs and we know we can’t get them their old lives back, but can help them to afford rehabilitation therapy, home modifications or nursing support.
Who is paying for your CILEX tuition?
I've been with very different employers – the first two, I was able to obtain sponsorship, which covered the cost of my CILEX studies – I also got time off for exams and study days, which was so helpful. I only had a year of CILEX left when I joined my current firm, so I made the decision to fund it myself just in case I wanted to move on after qualification – at the time I was finding my way with the firm and didn’t want to feel obligated. However, I know that they have funded and are funding other trainees.
How do you find combining study with work?
I've never been very academic, but I’ve always been willing to work hard and that’s how I approached my CILEX Lawyer journey. Personally I'm a bit of a morning person, so I would get up and study for an hour or two, and then go to work. And then in the evening I was free to do odd hours. I could go to the gym, or if I wanted to I would go back over a topic. At a minimum, I would say 6–8 hours a week worked for me.
What makes the CILEX route different?
The biggest advantage of going down the CILEX Lawyer route – and it's what I tell every work experience student I come across – is experience; experience outranks everything. As a CILEX Lawyer you are required to have three years’ work- based experience. And in those three years, you will develop the skills to speak with clients, speak with other professional members and develop your own confidence – you pick it up along the way from other more experienced lawyers.
So the main difference between becoming a CILEX Lawyer and a trainee is that trainees have to get a two-year training contract which is notoriously difficult. During that period, they're very unlikely to get their own files.
With the CILEX route – it's tried and tested. I've had three years’ practical experience. The day I qualify, I won’t begin learning how to be a lawyer – I’ll already be one. I'll be a CILEX Lawyer and will be given my own caseload because I’ll already have proved that I can deal with it