"Legal Executive" means a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives.
Those who are not Fellows of the Institute are not entitled to call themselves legal executives and in principle are therefore not entitled to the same hourly rate as a legal executive.
Unqualified clerks who are fee earners of equivalent experience may be entitled to similar rates. Fellows therefore, possess considerable practical experience and academic achievement. Clerks without the equivalent experience of legal executives will be treated as being in the bottom grade of fee earner, i.e. trainee solicitors and fee earners of equivalent experience.
Whether or not a fea earner has equivalent experience is ultimately a matter for the discretion of the court.
| Grade A | Solicitors with over eight years post qualification experience including at least eight years litigation experience |
| Grade B | Solicitors and legal executives with over four years post qualification experience including at least four years litigation experience. |
| Grade C | Other solicitors and legal executives and fee earners of equivalent experience. |
| Grade D | Trainee solicitors, para legals and other fee earners |