Victorian Bar CPD Program

The Bar Council has made new Compulsory CPD Rules.  The Rules will take effect from 1 April 2008.

The basic requirement remains that all barristers earn ten (10) CLE points each year.  The CLE activities undertaken by each barrister must cover four (4) compulsory fields:

1. Ethics and Professional Responsibility
2. Professional Skills
3. Substantive Law
4. Practice Management and Business Skills.

In each CLE year, all barristers are required to earn at least one (1) CLE point in compulsory fields (1), (2) and (3).  For Practice Management and Business Skills, one (1) CLE point is both the minimum and maximum point.

Background

In June 2003, the Bar Council resolved in principle that CLE should be compulsory for all practising members of the Bar.  A committee established under the chairmanship of the Honourable Justice Nettle developed a comprehensive CLE program for barristers.  The program commenced in February 2004 and has been conducted since that date.

In March 2006, the Attorney-General announced a review of post graduate and post admission legal education and training in Victoria.  The Review was conducted by Ms Susan Campbell, formerly Professorial Fellow in Legal Practice at Monash University.  The Victorian Bar made detailed submissions to Ms Campbell.

In September 2006, Ms Campbell published her report.  In relation to CLE, Ms Campbell’s recommendations were that:

• Barristers should continue to be required to complete ten (10) points each year;
• CLE should cover 4 compulsory fields: Ethics and Professional Responsibility; Skills; Substantive Law and Practice Management and Business Skills;
• Barristers should be required to complete a minimum of one CLE point in each field per year.  However, barristers should be permitted to count only 1 CLE point per year in Practice Management and Business Skills; 
• The CLE rules should continue to specify that a maximum of five (5) CLE points can be claimed for a single activity.

The recommendations were accepted by the Attorney-General and are to commence with effect from 1 April 2007.  The new Rules are designed to implement these changes. 

The most significant change is the obligation of all barristers regardless of seniority to complete a minimum of one CLE point in each compulsory field. 

This will require a barrister’s record of compliance to identify the field covered by each lecture attended.  To assist, the Committee will identify the compulsory field or fields that a Bar CLE activity covers when it is advertised.  If more than one field is identified, you will be entitled to allocate a lecture you attend to one of the advertised fields.

Download CPD Attendance Record here.