Prior Conduct Guidance

Prior conduct questions

You must declare at the earliest opportunity, in every application for CILEX membership or authorisation and when renewing your membership each year, whether you have:

1. Any convictions, cautions, reprimands or final warnings is not “protected” as defined by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (as amended)
2. Been subject to any investigations or proceedings by any regulatory or professional body (including any ongoing investigation and findings or orders currently under appeal)
3. Been adjudged bankrupt or made a composition with creditors
4. Been removed from being a trustee of a charity, or removed from being concerned with the management or control of a charity
5. Been removed from office as a member, director or manager of any public body
6. Been disqualified from acting as a director of a company
7. Been the subject of a civil judgment (including any CCJs)
8. Been involved in any other matter which may be relevant to a decision by CILEx Regulation to admit, authorise or approve you

Guide to answering the prior conduct questions

• Q 1. A conviction is where you have either pleaded or been found guilty of a criminal offence at court. A caution is where the police have issued you with a formal warning for a criminal offence instead of sending your case to court.

  You must not declare any spent convictions, cautions, reprimands or final warnings unless you are applying to become, or reinstate as, a Chartered Legal Executive, CILEX Practitioner, an individual holding an approved role in an Authorised Entities. These roles are exempt from the restrictions regarding disclosure of spent convictions under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974.

  If you are applying to become, or reinstate into, one of the above roles, you must declare all convictions, cautions, reprimands and final warnings that are not protected, including those that are spent.

  Guidance on whether a caution or conviction is spent can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rehabilitation-periods. You can also use this tool. https://www.gov.uk/tell-employer-or-college-about-criminal-record/check-your-conviction-caution.

  Guidance on whether a caution or conviction protected can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/filtering-rules-for-criminal-record-check-certificates/filtering-rules-for-dbs-certificates-criminal-record-checks.

  It is your responsibility to check the requirements. CILEx Regulation cannot confirm whether your caution or conviction is spent or protected.

• Q 2. An order by a regulatory or professional body may have been made where another organisation disciplined you. You must declare any current, or previous investigations about your conduct, even if a finding has not been made, as well as any decisions made about your conduct that are being appealed.


• Q 3. You must declare any bankruptcies, even if discharged, and any formal and legally binding debt management solutions that you have entered into, such as an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA), Debt Relief Order or Administration/Composition Order made by a court judge.

  We do not need to know about any informal arrangements you have made with your creditors to pay back your full debt(s) at a reduced rate, or over a longer period than originally agreed.

• Q 4. A trustee is someone that has been given legal responsibility for another person’s property.


• Q 5. A public body is an organisation whose work is part of the process of Government.


• Q 6. A company is any business firm in the private (non-public) sector of an economy, controlled and operated by private individuals (and not by civil servants or government employees).


• Q 7. This includes orders from any court that relate to a non-criminal matters which are incompatible with the CILEX Code of Conduct, including, but not limited to, County Court Judgments (CCJs) for debts and fixed penalty notices that you have failed to pay.


• Q 8. This includes information that may be relevant to your suitability to become, or remain, a regulated legal professional. For example, where you are subject to ongoing criminal investigations, allegations of dishonesty (including academic misconduct), findings of gross misconduct at work, fixed penalty notices for non-motoring offences, or any other conduct that is incompatible with the CILEX Code of Conduct.


• Q 9. If you answer yes to any of the prior conduct questions, please use the space to provide enough details of the conduct you are declaring to enable us to understand what happened, where it happened, when it happened (with dates) and who else is involved, including the names of any organisations. Max 5000 characters.