There are over 6,000 law practices currently registered within Victoria with new practices registered each day. Like any business, law practices require strong and appropriate internal management systems in order to operate successfully, service their clients’ needs and meet their regulatory obligations. Similarly law practices can also fail as can any business, and poor or inappropriate management practices are often at the root of such failures.

The Victorian Legal Services Board works with lawyers and law practices to foster and promote high quality practice standards across the Victorian legal profession. The Legal Profession Uniform Law requires the Board to ensure law practices implement appropriate management systems within their operations which are in accordance with their regulatory obligations. The Board therefore has the authority to direct practices to make changes to the management systems they use, where necessary.

While the Board can formally audit a law practice where obvious problems exist (such as those identified in complaints or through a trust account investigation), it has opted to pursue an educative strategy to assist law practices towards compliance. As part of this strategy the Board has developed the below self-assessment audit, designed to assist law practices deliver on client expectations and meet their regulatory obligations. The audit is based on ten objectives identified by the Board as being critical to a law practice delivering strong governance.