CPD rules and requirements are slightly different in each state. For reference on the rules and requirements in each state click on the links below:

Australian Capital Territory
New South Wales
Queensland
South Australia
Victoria
Western Australia

Australian Capital Territory

As of 01 July, 2010 all practitioners who hold a current practising certificate must, during each CPD year (01 April to 31 March), complete mandatory continuing professional development (MCPD) by completing a course which satisfies the following requirements:

• The course must be relevant to a practitioner’s immediate or long term needs in relation to the practitioner’s professional development and to the practice of law
• In the first period of operation of CPD, from 01 July, 2010 to 31 March, 2011, the minimum number of units should be seven (7). All other years the course must have an aggregate value of ten (10) MCPD units
• The course must include at least one (1) MCPD unit in each of the core areas:
  • Practical Legal Ethics
  • Practice Management and Business Skills
  • Professional Skills
• A practitioner’s engagement in a course of mandatory continuing professional development which satisfies the new requirements, will entitle the practitioner to one (1) MCPD unit for each hour of participation in the course
• ACT practitioners, you may claim 1 CPD unit per hour for audio material up to a maximum of 5 units

New South Wales

• Each MCLE year, a practitioner must, unless exempted in whole or in part, complete at least 10 MCLE units.
  
• The MCLE rules state that solicitors who are required to undertake MCLE, must complete as part of their MCLE obligations at least one (1) MCLE unit in each of the core area below every year:
  • Ethics and Professional Responsibility
  • Practice Management and Business Skills
    
  • Professional Skills
    
• You will still need to complete one (1) MCLE unit dealing with equal employment opportunity, discrimination, harassment and occupational health and safety, every three years
  
• NSW practitioners, may claim 1 MCLE/CPD unit per hour of private study, including audio recordings, to a maximum of 5 units in any CPD year

   

For full details on the New South Wales requirements please visit the Law Society of New South Wales.

Queensland

• Each CPD year, a practitioner must, unless exempted in whole or in part, complete at least 10 CPD units
• Each CPD year, a practitioner must complete as part of his or her CPD obligations at least 1 CPD unit in each of the following core areas:
  
  • Practical Legal Ethics
    
  • Practice Management and Business Skills
    
  • Professional Skills
• QLD practitioners can now claim all their 10 points by claiming 1 unit per hour of listening to audio/on-demand resources per year

For full details on the Queensland CPD rules please visit the Queensland Law Society.

Victoria

• Each CPD year, a practitioner must, unless exempted in whole or in part, complete at least 10 CPD units
  
• Each CPD year, a practitioner must complete as part of his or her CPD obligations at least 1 CPD unit in each of the following fields:
  • Ethics and Professional Responsibility
    
  • Professional Skills
    
  • Practice Management and Business Skills
    
  • Substantive Law
    
• VIC practitioners, may claim 1 MCLE/CPD unit per hour of private study, including audio recordings, to a maximum of 5 units in any CPD year

For full details on the Victorian CPD rules please visit the Law Institute of Victoria.

Western Australia

• Each certificated practitioner and each government lawyer must earn a minimum of 10 CPD points in each CPD period, across the three competency areas:
  
  • Competency Area 1: Legal Skills and Practice
    
  • Competency Area 2: Ethics and Professional Responsibility
  • Competency Area 3: Substantive Law
    
• Practitioners of less than five years post-admission experience, as at the commencement of any CPD period, are required to complete in each CPD period:
  
  • A minimum of 4 CPD points from Legal Skills and Practice (4LS)
    
  • A minimum of 4 CPD points from Legal Values (4LV)
• Practitioners of more than five years post-admission experience, as at the commencement of any CPD period, are required to complete in each CPD period:
  
  • A minimum of 2 CPD points from Legal Skills and Practice (2LS)
  • A minimum of 2 CPD points from Legal Values (2LV)
    
• For all practitioners a minimum of 8 CPD points must be accumulated by participating in Group Activity.
  
• WA practitioners, may claim 0.5 CPD points for each complete 60 minutes of individual activity, including audio recordings, up to a maximum of 2 points per CPD year

   

For full details of the Western Australian CPD requirements please visit the Legal Practice Board of Western Australia

South Australia

• It is a requirement that an individual legal practitioner must complete 10 CPD units of CPD activity in each year beginning on 1 April to the following 31 March.
• A CPD activity
  • Must be of significant intellectual or practical content primarily related to the practice of law; and
  • Be relevant to the immediate or long-term professional development needs of the legal practitioner undertaking it; and
• The 10 CPD units must include at least 1 unit each of the following Required CPD activity relating to:
  • Practical legal ethics
  • Practice management of business skills; and
  • Professional skills
• One hour of attendance at a seminar workshop lecture, conference, educational program or course or discussion group will attract 1 CPD unit.
• One hour of viewing or listening to, or preparing material for recorded material will attract 1 CPD unit. In calculating the minimum of 10 CPD units of CPD activity in respect of a CPD year, the total units must not include more than 5 CPD units of this type of CPD activity.
• CPD units completed in January, February or March of a CPD year, may be assigned to either that CPD year or to the next CPD year.
• An individual legal practitioner must maintain and retain for 3 years a written record of CPD activities undertaken, material indicating the nature of each CPD activity undertaken and a record that the practitioner undertook each activity.