The CPD year runs from 1 April to 31 March. The process for seeking an exemption is different depending on whether you held a practising certificate for the entire CPD year. 

If you held a practising certificate for a full CPD year

You can seek an exemption from completing some or all of your CPD activities for the year under certain circumstances. Some reasons to seek an exemption include:

CPD Rules

The CPD rules for barristers and the rules for solicitors outline the types of professional development activities you can undertake and earn CPD points for. The CPD Rules were developed by the national professional associations, the Law Council of Australia and the Australian Bar Association and approved as Uniform Rules by the Legal Services Coun

The purpose of CPD

Continuing professional development (CPD) obligations are intended to ensure that lawyers are continually updating and improving their skills and knowledge in order to maintain the quality of the service expected by, and delivered to, their clients and the community.

High quality legal service is of central importance when it comes to maintaining the public’s trust and confidence in the legal profession, which in turn supports the maintenance of the rule of law.

We often receive complaints by lawyers about the behaviour of other lawyers who they engage with in the course of legal practice. Some of the issues raised in these complaints do not warrant our intervention. Others could or should have been resolved between the lawyers directly. 

We have outlined below the types of complaints we may investigate and those we are unlikely to consider. Please read the full operational guideline for detailed information on complaints by lawyers about lawyers here.

There is a lot more to pricing legal services than billing according to the hourly rate, and evidence suggests that there are significant benefits to alternative pricing models.