Reminder: CPD Compliance Deadline

18/02/2025

As the 31 March 2025 deadline for continuing professional development (CPD) compliance approaches, all barristers should familiarize themselves with the requirements of the Legal Profession Uniform Continuing Professional Development (Barristers) Rules 2015 (CPD Rules).

Compliance with the CPD Rules is a statutory condition of an Australian practising certificate under section 52 of the Legal Profession Uniform Law (NSW). Your ability to certify that you have complied with the requirements is an essential step in the renewal of your practising certificate in May/June each year.

What do I need to do?

In the coming weeks, you should ensure that:

• You have obtained the annual requirement of 10 CPD points across the four CPD categories, or are on track to do so by 31 March 2025, as outlined in Rule 8 and Rule 9 of the CPD Rules. For ease of reference, the four categories listed in Rule 9 of the Legal Profession Uniform Continuing Professional Development (Barristers) Rules 2015:

a) Ethics and Professional Responsibility,

b) Practice Management and Business Skills,

c) Substantive Law, Practice and Procedure, and Evidence,

d) Barristers’ Skills.

• Alternatively, if you commenced or resumed practice after 30 April 2024, ensure you have accumulated the required number of points in accordance with the table in Rule 8(2).

• You have maintained a record of your engagement in CPD activities in accordance with Rule 12. If you have obtained any points through the NSW Bar Association CPD streaming program on our website those points will be automatically uploaded into the practising renewal system. If you have attended any in-person or real time online CPD’s you will need to manually add these to your CPD record online. A step by step guide on how to assist you with this process can be found here.

• All CPD activities comply with the CPD criteria, set out in Rule 6(1) of the CPD Rules.

What do I do if I can’t comply?

If you know that you will be unable to fulfill the requirements before 31 March 2025, you can apply for an exemption from the requirements, either in whole or in part. As stipulated in Rule 13 of the CPD Rules, an application for exemption must be made:

a) in writing, and

b) as early as possible and no less than one month before 31 March 2025 (ie: by 28 February 2025).

The Bar Association may consider an application made outside these time frames, if there are special circumstances, such as:

a) illness or disability,

b) the absence of the barrister from practice for example due to parenting leave,

c) hardship or other special circumstances (Rule 13 (4)).

If you are considering applying for an exemption, please ensure that you do so as soon as possible and provide reasons as to why you will not be able to acquire the required points prior to the CPD deadline of 31 March 2025.

What will happen if it turns out that I haven’t complied?

The Bar Association conducts an audit to monitor compliance with these rules under Rule 15 of the Legal Profession Uniform Continuing Professional Development (Barristers) Rules 2015 through the online practising certificate renewal system each year. You will need to certify in your application whether you have complied with the CPD requirements that apply to you. In order to determine your compliance, the Bar Association will ask you to produce relevant records (such as those required under Rule 12) or provide reasons for claiming any activities undertaken to satisfy the requirements for CPD activity.

If the audit determines that you have not complied with the requirements, you may be requested to submit a rectification plan setting out the steps you intend to take to rectify the non-compliance: see Rule 16 of the Legal Profession Uniform Continuing Professional Development (Barristers) Rules 2015.

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