The Justice Diaries: Millicent Grant QC (hon)
Millicent Grant QC was the President of CILEx and has a wealth of experience in both the private and public sector. She is the first Charted Legal Executive to be bestowed an honorary Queen’s Counsel for her major contributions in law in England and Wales.
Source: Scottish Legal News
Why did you choose CILEx as a route into law over others?
It was the best route open to me at the time I left school, given my qualifications. Although I had always wanted to become a lawyer, I left school without knowing how to go about it and with only a few GCEs. A youth leader at my church who worked as an accountant with a firm of City lawyers, suggested I qualify as a Legal Executive. He introduced me to that route. At the time, it was essential to be working with a law firm when studying to qualify and so, having taken a secretarial course before I left school, I started work as a legal secretary with a small law firm in Kings Bench Walk, Temple, just off Fleet Street, near the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand.
Did you face any adversity or difficulty getting into law?
I had made it clear when I applied for my first job, that I intended to qualify as a Legal Executive. My employers supported me by paying my college fees and granting paid time off work to study for my exams as I had secured that support before I started work with them. That role gave me an excellent opportunity to learn the details of practising in various areas of law as the firm was a multidisciplinary practice. My greatest challenges were related to gaining the experience and quality of work that I wanted to match my legal qualifications. I changed jobs to gain the experience I wanted and I was fortunate to work with lawyers who were good role models and supportive.
What impact did redundancy have on your career?
I’ve twice worked in jobs which have been made redundant. On the first occasion, I was very upset and disappointed. I had been working with a small law firm in the private sector. I was very comfortable there. I liked the location in the suburbs of Surrey, the work I was doing as a commercial litigation lawyer, and I got on well with my colleagues. However, redundancy from that role introduced me to the public sector, working for a local authority in Inner London. The location and nature of the organisation was completely new to me. It provided me with the opportunity to learn and practice different areas of law, broaden my experience to take on managerial roles and gain additional qualifications. This increased my confidence. I was initially taken on for 6 weeks and stayed for 12 years, leaving when a restructure gave me the opportunity to accept redundancy. This second redundancy led to me working independently and broadening the way I used my legal skills and knowledge. Working in this way indirectly led to my involvement as a non-executive director of my professional body, the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives and the opportunities that arose from that, including becoming president of that organisation.
Having worked in both the public and private sector, which do you prefer?
I enjoyed working in both sectors for different reasons. I worked in relatively small private sector firms and learnt my basic legal skills in that environment. Working in the public sector exposed me to a different way of working and the focus was on using my legal skills and knowledge for the public benefit, so I became involved in projects which positively affected the workforce of several thousand employees, the community and worked on complex projects I may never have had the opportunity to work on had I stayed in the private sector.
What are you reading at the moment?
Take My Hair (But Not My Humour) by Emma Davies. The author of this book, who I know personally, tells her inspiring tale of successfully seeing off breast cancer with a sense of humour.
As the first black President of CILEx, what do you think the legal world needs to be doing to increase diversity?
I was the first black President of CILEx but also the first person of my ethnicity to lead a legal professional membership body in the United Kingdom. Many aspiring lawyers may not be able to easily access the legal profession by qualifying as a barrister or solicitor. The CILEx route to qualifying as a CILEx Lawyer gives access to the legal profession regardless of a person’s social background and circumstances. It is an affordable route which enables a person to earn as they learn and gain qualifications.
What advice would you give for young people looking to enter the legal world through CILEx?
CILEx is offering a new qualification for a new kind of lawyer. CILEx lawyers work alongside barristers and solicitors. However, they are often overlooked, but are a significant and valuable sector of the legal profession. CILEx has reviewed the current and future needs of the legal profession and has recently launched the CQE, an innovative route to qualifying as a CILEx Lawyer. I would encourage those wanting to enter the profession through CILEx to think through what attracts them to the profession and what they want to achieve then check out the information available and see how you can qualify become a CILEx Lawyer and achieve your goals.
What is your proudest achievement?
There are two achievements which jointly, are the achievements of which I am most proud – becoming President of CILEx in 2017 and being appointed by the Queen as an honorary Queens Counsel in 2020 in acknowledgement of my having made a major contribution to the legal profession in England and Wales outside practice in the courts. I am proud of how I have developed my career from such a junior role, using many of the setbacks in my career as stepping stones.