Your supervised legal practice (SLP) period is an opportunity for you to develop practical legal and professional skills and ethical judgement, under the skilled mentorship of a more experienced lawyer and form good habits for a successful legal career.
You can make the most of this period by actively pursuing opportunities for professional development and mentorship.
This page provides information about the regulatory requirements of SLP and directs you to helpful resources to support you during SLP.
Who can be your supervisor
Where you work impacts who can be your supervisor. Below we explain who is eligible to supervise you, depending on your workplace.
If you work in a law practice
Supervision should be provided by another lawyer who works at the same law practice and who holds an Australian practising certificate that is not subject to the statutory supervision condition or a discretionary condition that prohibits them from supervising others.
If you do not work in a law practice
If you are undertaking legal practice as a corporate or government lawyer, you must be supervised by a person who either holds, or is eligible to hold but exempted from holding, an Australian practising certificate which authorises them to supervise others.
If you are supervised remotely
If you are a lawyer subject to the SLP condition you can be supervised remotely, however different rules may apply. If you work at a different entity to your supervisor, you must notify us and submit a remote supervision plan for our approval.
If you are a supervised lawyer and your supervisor is employed by a different entity, we must approve a remote supervision arrangement before you start this supervision. The onus is on the supervised lawyer to apply to us for that approval first.
Considerations for remote supervision
When planning a remote supervision arrangement, you must consider:
- the logistics of contact, how regular one-on-one meetings will be conducted and how you can contact your supervisor at all other times
- how your supervisor will manage your workflow if they’re not employed in the same law practice or are based in a different location
- how correspondence and advice will be reviewed and feedback provided to you as well as the frequency of this review and feedback
- how your supervisor will access files and documents to review all your legal work. You must carefully consider issues of client confidentiality
- your supervisors experience in the areas of legal practice you will be working in.
We will consider whether the proposed remote supervision arrangement is adequate and in line with our Supervised Legal Practice Policy.
If we approve your remote supervision arrangement, we strongly recommend that all of your engagement letters to clients clearly state that you’re engaging in supervised legal practice and include your supervisor’s contact details.
Application for approval of a remote supervision arrangement
Please provide us with a remote supervision proposal, setting out the supervision that will be provided. The proposal should confirm the supervisor will have authority in respect of all legal work performed and will be able to direct, amend, override or intervene. You should demonstrate in your application how you will address any administrative obstacles.
Access remote supervision proposal template.
Please send your proposal to us via the lawyer enquiry form, selecting 'Supervised legal practice' as the category.
As remote working has become commonplace, a remote supervision arrangement is no longer required to be approved by the Board where you and your supervisor work for the same entity, but you work remotely.
We still encourage supervised lawyers to enter into an agreed remote supervision plan with their supervisor, however, this is not a requirement and we do not need to review a copy of the supervision plan.
What counts as ‘legal practice’
To complete your SLP period, you must be engaging in legal practice. This is particularly relevant for government legal employment where there may be a mix of legal and non-legal work.
The terms ‘engage in legal practice’ and ‘legal services’ are defined in the Uniform Law. While there is no legislative guidance on the meaning of 'legal practice', further guidance is provided by case law.
We consider the following types of work to be examples of legal practice:
- giving legal advice
- interpreting and applying legislation or case law for use of a client, whether or not for fees
- drafting legal documents.
The following examples of work are generally not considered to be legal practice:
- paralegal work
- working as a judge’s associate
- policy work, including legal policy work
- working as a conveyancer
- working as a migration agent
- working as a tax agent
- working as a patent attorney.
Although the above professions work extensively with legislation and often provide advice, they are either not considered to be engaging in legal practice or are specifically exempted by legislation. For example, policy work is expressly excluded from the definition of 'engage in legal practice' under the Uniform Law.
If you are unsure whether the work you are doing is legal practice, ask yourself:
- Does an Act of Parliament or rules of a court require the work to be done by a lawyer?
- Is the work normally done by a lawyer?
- Does the work require training or expertise in the law?
- Who is the client?
Duration of supervised legal practice
Your SLP period begins once you’ve been granted a Practising Certificate and commenced engaging in legal practice.
How you qualified for admission will determine your SLP period:
- If you undertook supervised legal practice under the supervision of an Australian lawyer (including articles of clerkship), you must complete the equivalent of 18 months full-time supervised legal practice.
- If you undertook other practical legal training, like the courses provided by Leo Cussen Centre for Law or the College of Law, you must complete the equivalent of two years full-time supervised legal practice.
If you practise part time, only the time that you are actually practising can be counted towards your supervision period. Any periods of unpaid leave cannot be counted towards the supervision period
For help calculating your remaining SLP period, use our SLP time calculator.
Removing your supervised legal practice condition
Once you have completed your SLP period, you must apply to us to have the condition removed from your practising certificate. You don’t have to hold a current practising certificate to make this application.
- Download our template application form and supervisor letter
- Ask your supervisor(s) to complete the supervisor letter (attached to our template application form) confirming you have completed your period of supervised practice. We will accept electronic signatures from your supervisors.
- Complete the application form and statutory declaration.
- Send both the application form and your supervisor(s) letters to us via our lawyer enquiry form, selecting ‘Supervised legal practice’ and ‘Apply for an exemption or removal of my supervised legal practice condition’ from the categories.
- Wait for us to process these requests (note this can take several weeks). We will contact you in let you know the outcome of your application.
The SLP condition will remain on your certificate until we’ve received your application and decided that it can be removed. This means that you can’t practise unsupervised or supervise another lawyer until your certificate no longer carries the SLP condition.
If you supervise someone else while you still have a SLP condition on your practising certificate, the other person can’t claim the time that you supervised them towards their SLP period. You may also face disciplinary action for practising outside the conditions on your certificate.
If you have a supervised legal practice condition on your certificate but you no longer have anyone supervising you, you must stop practising law. This might happen if your supervisor leaves the practice or can’t continue to supervise you and they haven’t arranged an alternative for you.
You will need to arrange for another appropriate lawyer to supervise you before you begin practicing again. If the new supervisor is employed at a different entity, you will need to apply for approval of a remote supervision arrangement. If you are unable to find a new supervisor please contact us via our Lawyer enquiry form, selecting ‘Supervised legal practice’ from the categories and we may be able to help you.
If you continue to practise without supervision, you may face disciplinary action for practising outside the conditions on your certificate.
Exemption from supervised legal practice
Under certain conditions, you may qualify for an exemption from some or all of your SLP period. For example, you may be able to claim an exemption for any time that you spent practising as a barrister, or practising overseas.
You can apply for an exemption by submitting to us:
- a statutory declaration
- supporting documentation, including a letter from your supervisor that has evidence of your period of supervised legal practice, and
- if you’re in government practice and do not require a practising certificate, a letter from your employer evidencing how long you were in legal practice.
You can use the statutory declaration template when applying for an exemption.
Resources to support you during supervised legal practice
Early Career Lawyer Capability Framework
This framework was developed to provide clarity on the capabilities and skills you should develop by the end of SLP. These capabilities are important for your transition to independent practice.
This framework encompasses the diversity of legal practice. Because early career lawyers work in a variety of legal workplaces, with different areas of practice, there may be situations where some performance indicators in the framework will not be directly relevant to you. Your supervisor should discuss which performance indicators are appropriate for your circumstances.
Download the Early Career Lawyer Capability Framework.
Supervision Plan Template
To help make the supervision experience a good one - for both you and your supervisor - we recommend that supervisors create a supervision plan.
If your supervisor hasn’t created a plan for you, our Supervision Plan Template will provide a good starting point.
Reflective Practice Template
Reflective practice is a simple, time-efficient and evidence-based way to enhance your professional performance and improve your wellbeing.
While legal education emphasises technical knowledge and legal reasoning, early career lawyers also need to develop judgement, communication skills, emotional intelligence, and ethical sensitivity. Reflective practice helps you to build these skills, bridging the gap between legal education and the realities of professional practice.
Making reflective practice a habit will help you process events, situations and experiences that occur during what is a period of intense professional growth. Structured reflections can also prepare you to engage in constructive discussions about your performance with others, including your supervisor.
Learn more about reflective practice
Download our Reflective Practice Plan Template
Wellbeing for early career lawyers
A career in the law can be stimulating and rewarding in many ways, at both a professional and personal level. It can provide meaning and stability, and the opportunity to help others through providing access to justice. But it doesn’t come without challenges, particularly for those in the early stages of their career.
A legal career is a marathon, not a sprint. Unfortunately, many lawyers too often prioritise their work over their wellbeing. For early career and young lawyers, who are particularly vulnerable to burnout and stress, this imbalance can cause wellbeing issues that lead to promising legal careers being cut short.
See our Lawyer Wellbeing: how can early career lawyers set themselves up for a long career in the law? for helpful tips to support your wellbeing and legal career.