Legal Profession Uniform Continuing Professional Development (Solicitors) Rules 2015 (2015-242) (NSW)

Legal Profession Uniform Continuing Professional Development (Solicitors) Rules 2015

1 Citation 1.1 These Rules are designated as Legal Profession Continuing Professional Development Rules and may be cited as the Legal Profession Uniform Continuing Professional Development (Solicitors) Rules 2015.

2 Commencement 2.1 These Rules come into operation on 1 July 2015.

3 Objective 3.1 The objective of these Rules is to provide the minimum requirements for continuing professional development for solicitors.

4 Authorising provisions 4.1 These Rules were developed by the Law Council of Australia in accordance with section 427 of the Legal Profession Uniform Law and are made by the Legal Services Council under Part 9.2 of that Law.

5 Definitions 5.1 In these Rules: CPD means continuing professional development. CPD activity means an activity which meets the requirements of rule 7 (CPD content) and rule 8 (CPD format). CPD unit has the meaning given by rule 9 (CPD units). CPD year means the year beginning on 1 April and ending on 31 March the following year. Designated local regulatory authority means a person or body specified or described in jurisdictional legislation as the relevant designated local regulatory authority for the purposes of section 44 of the Uniform Law. Uniform Law means the Legal Profession Uniform Law as applied in a participating jurisdiction.

6 CPD obligations 6.1 Unless exempted in whole or in part by the designated local regulatory authority under rule 16 (Exemptions), or unless a pro rata calculation applies under rule 10 (Pro rata calculations), a solicitor must complete 10 CPD units in each CPD year including at least one CPD unit in each of the following fields: 6.1.1 ethics and professional responsibility, 6.1.2 practice management and business skills, 6.1.3 professional skills, 6.1.4 substantive law. 6.2 Where a part exemption under rule 16 (Exemptions) or a pro rata calculation under rule 10 (Pro rata calculations) applies the compulsory fields must be completed as part of the remaining CPD units.