26.01.18
The Magnificent Seven meet the Regulators
January saw owners from seven CILEx Authorised Entities gather at Box End outside of Bedford for the first ever CILEx Regulation Insights Programme event. David Pope, Entity Manager, reports on a very successful day.
“We wanted the attendees to leave feeling they had got real value from the time they were investing away from the day job. From the overwhelmingly positive feedback that we received, we achieved that”, said CILEx Regulation CEO, Helen Whiteman.
Giving our firms the space to meet and talk was really important, alongside offering knowledge and support to them in their daily activities. A wide range of topics was covered, starting with advice on how to comply with the new anti-money laundering requirements.
There was a lively debate about the challenges of improving transparency on price and service for consumers. One owner said that adding price information to their website would be a big selling point to prospective clients. In larger businesses, the price can vary depending on who is handling the work. As a sole practitioner, she can be clear to potential clients that she would be handling the work and the price she displays will reflects that.
Jenny Pelling, CILEx Law School Director, talked about the business case for legal apprentices, what funding is available to small businesses and how they can add real value to the bottom line.
Then Rachel Tombs, founder of Links2leads, set us all thinking about how to use social media to increase our online visibility and reach to consumers and the public. We all were clear that we wanted to hear more on this subject.
John Kunzler, Risk Manager at Marsh, told us some horror stories about the latest cyber security scams and what small businesses should do to protect themselves. Sam Younger, Chair of CILEx Regulation Board, closed the event with some thoughts on professional ethics and the moral challenges we sometimes face.
With the message of “Please let’s do this again, and soon!” ringing in our ears, planning has already started for the next Insights event. Hopefully we will be joined by lots more firms and hope to extend an invite to those thinking about running their own business.
As Helen and the team reflected: “Lots of smiley faces from us and our firms. This time we all will be looking forward to the sequel”.
Click here for more information on becoming a CILEx Regulation Authorised Entity.