Compulsory continuing legal education for lawyers will be introduced in April 2006 in a drive to reduce insurance premiums and help lawyers remain aware of changes in their profession.
The Federal Government has made clear its intention to make continuing legal education (CLE) compulsory for all legal practitioners, overseen by the Legal Practice Board.
Amendments to the Legal Practice Act were expected to be passed during the last sitting of parliament, but problems with the powers granted under the changes required amendment, and it is now expected the act will be passed during the current session of parliament.
The intention of compulsory CLE is to make all legal practitioners undergo 12 hours of legal education in three competency areas in order to obtain a practice certificate. These areas are professional practice and skills, practice areas, and values.
The Legal Practice Board has the legislative power to accredit providers of CLE, such as law firms and the Law Society of Western Australia.
The Law Society of Western Australia has been holding legal education seminars for lawyers on an ongoing basis.
President of the Western Australian branch of the Law Society, Celia Searle, said the move towards compulsory continuing education was important and had the firm support of the Law Society.
“Times are changing and lawyers need to keep up to date on changes,” Ms Searle said.
She said the move to make continuing education compulsory was not a reaction to declining education levels of lawyers.
“The Law Society has been providing an amount of CLE for a while, and there has been a reduction in the number of claims against lawyers for the last few years,” Ms Searle told WA Business News.
“Also, insurance premiums have reduced this year and we anticipate them reducing further next year, indicating that there are no problems with the profession.”
She said the introduction of compulsory continuing education requirements could create issues for some lawyers, including those in rural areas.
“We are commenting very vigorously on behalf of country practitioners about time and cost concerns – the design of mandatory CLE needs to be flexible in its design, and it needs to be as easy as possible to get the required points,” Ms Searle said.
