CPD Requirements for South Australian Lawyers

The SA Law Society introduced a mandatory CPD scheme for SA practitioners which commenced on 1 April 2011.  Complying with the requirements of the MCPD scheme is a mandatory condition for the renewal of a practicing certificate pursuant to section 14C of the Legal Practitioners Act 1981.

CPD Activities

Under the MCPD scheme introduced by the SA Law Society, a CPD activity must be:

• of significant intellectual or practical content and must deal primarily with matters related to the practice of law;
• conducted by persons who are qualified by practical or academic experience in the subject covered;
• relevant to the immediate or long term professional development needs of the legal practitioner undertaking it.

A CPD activity must consist of one of the activities set out in Rule 1 of the LPEAC Rules. 

LawCPD’s online legal CPD courses are classified as a multi-media or web-based program under Rule 1(d)(ii) of the LPEAC Rules.  This means that SA practitioners can earn 1 CPD unit per hour and up to 5 CPD units annually by completing LawCPD’s online legal CPD courses.

Annual Requirements

According to the LPEAC Rules, practitioners must complete 10 CPD units in every CPD year (1 April – 31 March annually). SA practitioners must earn a minimum of one unit from each of the following three required areas:

• Practical Legal Ethics;
• Practice Management or Business Skills; and
• Professional Skills.

Practitioners may determine which core area a CPD activity fits according to the context and content of the activity.  LawCPD has allocated required CPD areas to each course on the website to assist practitioners with this task.

Record Keeping and Auditing

Under the MCPD scheme, practitioners must maintain their own CPD records. Records must include the name of the CPD activity completed, the date, provider, form of activity and CPD units earned.  A pro forma record is available to download from the SA Law Society MCPD page.

Within 14 days of the end of the CPD year (by 14 April), practitioners will need to provide to the SA Law Society a certificate confirming that they have complied with the requirements of the scheme in respect of the previous CPD year.  A pro forma certificate is available on the SA Law Society MCPD page. 

The SA Law Society may also conduct an annual random audit of practitioners’ CPD records to monitor compliance with the MCPD scheme.

LawCPD provides practitioners with a personalised page (MyCPD) which tracks all their learning in real time and provides a record of all CPD units earned through LawCPD.   Practitioners can print a copy of this page and provide it to the SA Law Society in the event that they are audited for compliance with the MCPD scheme.

LawCPD also provides printable certificates for each course completed which can be downloaded from the MyCPD page.  These certificates may also be provided to prove compliance with the MCPD scheme if the practitioner is audited by the SA Law Society.

Further Information

For full details of the MCPD scheme and the requirements for SA practitioners, visit the SA Law Society website.