Commissioner’s message
One of the things I often reflect on in my role is how much the integrity of our legal system depends on the everyday decisions lawyers make – and on the support they receive to make those decisions well.
I’m mindful that many of you are currently applying to renew your practising certificates. Although this process can feel routine, it does play an important role in protecting the integrity of the profession. It’s a reminder of the trust your clients place in you to be honest, ethical and accountable, and of your role in upholding the rule of law.
In our Risk Outlook 2026, we highlight inadequate supervision as a significant risk, particularly for early career lawyers. Good supervision is not transactional; it isn’t just about ensuring tasks are done on time and to the correct standard. At its core, good supervision also encompasses care and responsibility – taking the time to guide, support and share knowledge.
When supervision is clear and consistent, early career lawyers are more confident, and it helps improve ethical decision-making, supporting lawyers to become more knowledgeable and better equipped to serve their clients. When it isn’t, the impacts can be serious and adversely effect everyone involved – for lawyers’ wellbeing, for clients and for trust in the profession. That’s why I encourage principals, supervisors, and early career lawyers to engage with our practical tools, which you can access below.
We also recognise in the Risk Outlook 2026 the complex environment that in-house lawyers (corporate lawyers) operate in and that a key pressure for corporate lawyers is managing employer expectations in a way that is consistent with their professional and ethical obligations. While these roles are rewarding, they also come with unique ethical challenges. I encourage you to access our newly designed resources for supporting ethical and effective in-house practice for corporate lawyers, their employers, and lawyers considering a move in-house. You can access these below.
Following this year’s Lawyer Census, I wish to thank everyone who took the time to respond. Your responses provide valuable insights into the issues shaping legal practice in Victoria – from client needs and technology, through to wellbeing, workplace conditions and professional boundaries. When lawyers share their experiences, we can more effectively target policies and resources to support the profession in a rapidly changing environment, track progress over time, and ultimately improve the experience of both lawyers and their clients.
I am pleased to acknowledge the appointment of our former Board Chair Sam Hay KC as a Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria. Justice Hay’s appointment in late-April reflects his outstanding career at the Bar, and his deep commitment to the administration of justice. We warmly congratulate Sam on his appointment and acknowledge his contribution to our Board.
Finally, I’m excited to share with you our Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan. This is an important milestone for us as we continue to build awareness and First Peoples cultural capability inside and outside our organisation. During Reconciliation Week (27 May to 3 June) we wholeheartedly commit to being ‘All In’ and proudly reiterate our commitment to reconciliation, improving systems, and access to justice with and for First Peoples.
Fiona McLeay
Board CEO and Commissioner
Why kindness matters for early career lawyers and their supervisors
We invite you to ‘Why kindness matters for early career lawyers and their supervisors’, a CPD webinar with Dr Nicki Macklin, researcher, advisor, and speaker focused on the human side of organisational performance.
Recent findings from the Legal Services Research Centre show that while uncivil behaviour is common across the Victorian legal profession, young and emerging lawyers experience higher rates of workplace incivility.
As part of our ongoing support for early career lawyers and their supervisors, we’re offering this free, CPD-approved webinar, where Nicki will share her research on kindness as a form of social capital and a lever for performance and quality improvement. She’ll also provide practical tips for weaving kindness into the fabric of the supervisor/supervisee relationship, in ways that improve wellbeing and legal practise.
Kerri-anne Millard, our Executive Director of Policy and Outreach, will join Nicki to share evidence-based guidance developed by us to support early career lawyers and their supervisors to get the most out of supervised legal practise.
We invite you to share this invitation with the early career lawyers and supervisors in your organisation and professional networks.
When: Tuesday 9 June 2026, 12.30pm – 1.30pm
Where: online, link will be provided ahead of event
Guidance to support ethical and effective in-house practice
More Victorian lawyers are choosing to work in‑house as corporate lawyers, with organisations increasingly relying on internal legal teams to manage legal risk and support good decision‑making. In‑house roles can be rewarding and influential, but they also raise distinct professional and ethical challenges. Recent royal commissions and parliamentary inquiries have also drawn attention to the role of in‑house lawyers in organisations facing allegations of wrongdoing, including issues around professional independence and the use of legal privilege.
In the March Commissioner Update, we shared new resources for corporate lawyers in a web-friendly format. We did this alongside the Risk Outlook 2026, which highlights corporate legal practice as an emerging area of focus. We’ve since developed downloadable versions of these resources so corporate lawyers can use them practically in their day‑to‑day role.
Access our newly designed resources, which are aimed at supporting ethical and effective corporate practice:
- Corporate Lawyers: Core Expectations
This resource sets out what professional and ethical practice looks like for corporate lawyers. It covers fundamental duties, professional independence, identifying who your client is, managing conflicts, access to senior decision‑makers, and the importance of supervision, mentoring and ongoing professional development.
- Corporate Lawyers: A Guide for Employers
This resource explains employers’ responsibilities, what they can and cannot expect from their in‑house lawyers, and how to support independent, ethical legal advice within their organisation.
- A Guide for Prospective Corporate Lawyers
This resource helps lawyers considering a move in‑house to understand the role, undertake due diligence, and assess culture, support and supervision before accepting a position.
Supporting early career lawyers
At the Law Institute of Victoria’s Legal Career Pathways event in April, we enjoyed speaking with the bright and enthusiastic law students who attended. We took the opportunity to share our practical resources designed to support effective supervision of early career lawyers.
Our Risk Outlook 2026 highlights why this matters – inadequate supervision is a significant risk for law practices, with serious consequences not just for supervisees, but for clients, lawyers, the law practice and the broader justice system.
Supervision of early career lawyers is an important regulatory requirement. It supports the development of the foundational skills required for independent practice so emerging lawyers can practise safely, ethically and confidently.
Supervision also requires guidance and oversight, setting clear expectations, and providing meaningful feedback.
Inadequate supervision – such as limited guidance and oversight or providing files well beyond the supervisee’s capability – can lead to poor outcomes for the supervisee, including undermining their wellbeing and professional development.
Reflective practice is a valuable tool early career lawyers can use to enhance their professional performance and improve wellbeing. Regular reflection helps all lawyers identify risks early, learn from experience, and continually improve their practice and service to clients.
We created practical resources to support early career lawyers develop their capabilities, to ensure safer practice and stronger professional development:
- Early Career Lawyer Capability Framework
- Reflective Practice Template
- Supervision Plan Template.
We recommend all principals, supervisors and early career lawyers access these resources.
Have you renewed your practising certificate?
If you haven’t yet applied to renew your practising certificate, we encourage you to do so as early as you can to allow time for processing, and to avoid any interruption to your ability to practise.
If you have taken the time to apply, we would like to thank you, and let you know our team is working hard to process your application as quickly as we can.
Why renewing is important
Although renewing your practising certificate may feel like just another task on your to-do list, it’s an essential element of Victoria’s legal regulatory system, playing a crucial role in maintaining the integrity of the legal profession.
Renewing is an opportunity for you to inform us about any significant changes over the past year, including criminal convictions or changes to your ability to practise law. All lawyers are required to be honest in disclosing these matters, and failure to provide accurate information may result in penalties.
Benefits of renewing now
Renewals happen at the same time as other important processes – including professional indemnity insurance and trust reporting – making it an ideal time to organise all your compliance obligations. Submitting your renewal early provides peace of mind and ensures your ability to continue practising without interruption.
Missing the 30 June deadline means you cannot practise law and will need to apply for a new certificate, which comes with a 200% surcharge.
$1 million scam: a reminder to always verify payment details
We continue to see Victorian law practices fall victim to cybersecurity breaches, resulting in significant losses of client trust money.
In one recent case, a law practice reported that almost $1 million was transferred from its trust account to a scammer’s bank account, instead of the intended recipient. Despite having cybersecurity measures in place, the law practice’s email system was compromised after a staff member was on the receiving end of a phishing scam.
The scammer gained access to the staff member’s email account and waited. When the staff member later emailed a payment requisition to the accounts team, the scammer intercepted the message and altered the bank details in the PDF. The scammer also contacted the intended recipient to say there might be a delay in payment because of a banking issue. This allowed time for the funds to be transferred overseas and become untraceable.
The fraud was only discovered weeks later when the rightful recipient contacted the law practice to ask why they hadn’t received the funds.
This sophisticated scam may have been prevented if the accounts team had strictly followed our minimum cybersecurity expectations, particularly by confirming bank details using verified contact information before processing the payment.
1 July 2026: important commencement reminders
Anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing obligations
Law practices and lawyers providing designated services should be aware that new anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing obligations commence on 1 July 2026. If you provide designated services, you must enrol with AUSTRAC and comply with the new AML/CTF regime from that date.
By 1 July 2026, affected law practices and lawyers need to have the following arrangements in place:
- be enrolled with AUSTRAC and have an AML/CTF program in place, whether based on AUSTRAC's program starter kit or your own program
- have an AML/CTF compliance officer
- train staff on the program, internal processes and relevant AML/CTF risks
- be ready to undertake customer due diligence and report suspicious matters.
If you are unsure whether the new laws apply to your practice, you can use AUSTRAC's online checker and review its guidance on designated services.
To prepare, review the LIV AML/CTF Hub and AUSTRAC's information for legal professionals, including the legal profession program starter kit.
New laws for Non-Disclosure Agreements
The Restricting Non‑disclosure Agreements (Sexual Harassment at Work) Act 2025 (Vic) commences on 1 July 2026. It introduces a new legal framework that limits how non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) can be used, what they can include, and how they may be enforced.
The Act prevents NDAs from being used as the default in settling workplace sexual harassment claims, and reduces power imbalances between the people who make a complaint and respondents.
It is being introduced in response to the Victorian Ministerial Taskforce on Workplace Sexual Harassment's findings that NDAs are often misused to silence victims, protect employer reputations, avoid full liability, and hide serial offending.
New report: Generative AI use in the legal profession
New research by our Legal Services Research Centre highlights that Victorian lawyers need more support to adopt AI if the profession is to harness the vast possibilities of the technology – beyond just workforce productivity.
The new report, Generative AI use in the legal profession: Findings from the 2025 Victorian Lawyer Census, examines:
- how Victorian lawyers use generative AI
- the challenges and risks they associate with it
- the opportunities this transformative technology may present for the profession and ultimately consumers of legal services.
The findings reveal that 36.7% of respondents are using AI tools in their legal practice, with over half using them daily or weekly. Despite the rapid increase in AI use in recent years, the profession is still working out how to fully harness its capabilities, with lawyers mainly using AI to improve workflows and boost productivity.
The VLSB+C encourages lawyers to think beyond simply gaining a competitive advantage and consider how the technology can deliver even greater value through driving increased quality, affordability, accessibility and client satisfaction for legal services.
It’s vital for lawyers to develop the skills to use these technologies responsibly so they meet their ethical and professional obligations while protecting their clients from potential risks. All lawyers are encouraged to familiarise themselves with our statement on the use of artificial intelligence in Australian legal practice and look out for new resources we will provide later this year on the use of AI. For a list of current resources, go to the using artificial intelligence section of the Risk Outlook 2026.
Launching our Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan
We’re proud to share our Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), during National Reconciliation Week (27 May to 3 June). The theme for the week is 'All In' – a call for all of us to commit wholeheartedly to reconciliation.
At the VLSB+C we are 'All In'. Following the completion of our foundational plan, our new two-year plan, Innovate, is designed to implement lasting change towards reconciliation with First Peoples.
Our plan outlines the steps we’ll take to build awareness and cultural capability inside and outside our organisation, and how we’ll create meaningful opportunities towards a more just and equitable future for First Peoples communities across Victoria. It harnesses our influence as a leader in the legal sector in Victoria to improve access to justice for First Peoples.
Our RAP has been endorsed by Reconciliation Australia, and shaped through conversations, listening and learning, along with the generous guidance of First Peoples-owned consultancy, NJAC.
Help improve how we engage with lawyers
To help us improve how we design services for the legal profession, our Customer Experience team is carrying out ongoing user experience research and testing. This includes testing intake forms, digital platforms, communication platforms, communications, and end‑to‑end service journeys.
We’re looking for lawyers to take part in this initiative over the next 12 months. Sessions take 60–90 minutes, and can be online or in person. If you choose to take part, you’ll receive a gift card to thank you for your time.
If you’re interested, follow the link below to answer a few short questions. This will help us match you to the right studies, and allow us to contact you when new studies become available.
This is a great opportunity to share your insights and perspectives and will help inform and improve how we work with you.
Other news
The Torch
Confined 17
The Torch has launched Confined 17 at Glen Eira City Council Gallery. The free exhibition showcases 501 works by 424 First Peoples artists with lived experience of incarceration in Victoria.
To date, 260 artworks have been sold. 100% of the artwork price goes directly to the artist and artwork sales have generated just over $180K income for First Peoples artists.
Confined 17 is on until 14 June 2026.
Law Institute of Victoria
Legal Forum
The Law Institute Victoria’s (LIV) Legal Forum returns on 10 June. The event offers a full day of learning across emerging trends in key practice areas, leadership and skills development, and the chance to meet with sector leaders over fireside chats. Attendees will receive 9.5 CPD points. Read more and register at Legal Forum 2026.
Proactive Practice Workshops Series 2026
The LIV’s Proactive Practice Workshop Series brings essential legal risk management strategies directly to practitioners across Victoria. These workshops provide advice and guidance across a range of issues covered by our Risk Outlook 2026. To find a workshop near you, visit Proactive Practice.
Victorian Bar
Pilot pro bono scheme
The Victorian Bar, in collaboration with the Federal Court of Australia, has launched the Federal Court Pro Bono Counsel Referral Scheme. The initiative is a 12-month pilot to establish a formal referral pathway for pro bono assistance, with the aim of broadening pro bono opportunities and enhancing access to justice. Read more about the scheme.
Indigenous Students’ Clerkship Program
The Victorian Bar has entered a Memorandum of Understanding with the Federal Court of Australia, Supreme Court of Victoria, and County Court of Victoria to deliver the Indigenous Students’ Clerkship Program. This program enables First Nations law students to engage in a work experience placement with barristers and judges. Find out more.
Victoria Law Foundation
New major report
Victoria Law Foundation has published a new major research report, Measure for measure: A people‑centred approach to tailoring justice. The report draws on the knowledge and experience of justice practitioners across Victoria to explore what works to meet legal need and what more is needed. Access the report.
Legal Practitioners’ Liability Committee
Solicitors’ certificates and guarantee advice
Solicitors’ certificates and guarantee advice continue to be a significant source of professional liability claims for practitioners. Access Legal Practitioners’ Liability Committee’s resources on this topic, including checklists, articles and videos, and their recently delivered webinar.
Victoria Legal Aid
Federal Court awards penalties and compensation to mother
In February, Victoria Legal Aid client Tatiana Duarte won a landmark case in the Federal Court of Australia after experiencing discrimination by her employer when pregnant, and then breastfeeding and looking after her newborn baby. The Court found that Tatiana’s employer had breached their obligations under the Fair Work Act 2009. Read more.
Giving young people a voice in family law
Kids Talk is a program that gives children and young people the opportunity to actively participate and be heard in family law decisions, as part of Victoria Legal Aid’s Family Dispute Resolution Service. Analysis of the program highlights that, generally, children’s participation in family dispute resolution delivers better outcomes for families. Learn more.
Law Library Victoria
Getting AI right in legal research
Law Library Victoria supports lawyers to stay up to date with the growing use of AI in legal practice. Recent updates to their suite of resources include AI Capabilities and Limitations, developed with the Legal Practitioners’ Liability Committee. The Library also offers tailored in-person CPD training for legal groups. To discuss training options, contact the Law Library.
Sentencing Advisory Council
A Quick Guide to Sentencing
The Sentencing Advisory Council has recently released the seventh edition of A Quick Guide to Sentencing. Offering a clear and accessible overview, the Guide breaks down the where, when, what and how of sentencing in Victoria. Access the guide.