A new report by the Legal Services Research Centre reveals Victorian lawyers broadly agree on how they understand professional competency with some variation across career stage and practice area.
As legal educators, professional associations and regulators across Australia are actively discussing how best to educate the lawyers of the future it’s timely that in this new report by the Legal Services Research Centre, we learn what lawyers think competence looks like.
Lawyers were presented with a random selection of 10 competencies and asked to rate these from ‘not that important’ to ‘critical’. The report found that lawyers agreed a broad skill set is needed, from technical to interpersonal skills.
The most highly rated were understanding of and ability to apply the law, clear and effective communication, critical thinking and analysis, and being able to apply professional conduct rules, such as maintaining client confidentiality and professional boundaries.
There was some variation in what was rated as important, related to career stage, practice area, and role, and among those variations were some interesting findings.
Early career lawyers were more likely to rate wellbeing and developmental competencies as important. As seniority increased, the importance of maintaining work-life balance, accessing support, mentoring and supervision and managing work-related stress, all declined.
In other interesting findings, competencies associated with running a practice or business, such as understanding trust account obligations, client billing and business planning attracted lower ratings overall, as did understanding court processes and cultural competency in various forms.
Variation in what was rated as important may be placed in the context of the type of legal work being undertaken, nonetheless the findings merit reflection.
As new technologies and ways of working transform the legal landscape, ongoing professional development is critical. The VLSBC encourages all lawyers to see themselves as lifelong learners and to actively reflect on the competencies required to do their job well and address any knowledge gaps.
The VLSB+C has developed guidance and resources to assist lawyers with competency building and will use the findings from this research to refine its CPD policies and resources as well as develop further resources to meet the needs of the profession.
Resources for lawyers
- Review the professional competency section of the Risk Outlook 2026
- Guide on lawyer’s ethical obligations
- Core expectations for in-house corporate lawyers
- Reflective Practice Template
- Early Career Capability Framework
- First Nations Cultural Capability Framework (Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service website)