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CPD FAQs

Checklist

1. You will want to become familiar with Practice Guideline no 4. The rules for the operation of the Law Society of Tasmania’s continuing professional development scheme for legal practitioners are set out in Practice Guideline no. 4.

2. You will also want to get to know the requirements, definitions and caps under that Guideline. Legal practitioners have an obligation to themselves and the community to participate in continuing professional development that maintains and extends their knowledge, expertise and competence in areas in relevant to their practice. In Tasmania, a legal practitioner must, as a pre-requisite to practising certificate renewal complete a minimum of 10 units of CPD activity in each CPD year (a CPD year runs 1 May to 30 April). The terms CPD points and CPD activity are defined in Practice Guideline no. 4. A summary is below.

  • In most instances, 1 hour of CPD activity = 1 CPD point.
  • Rule 3.3 of Practice Guideline no.4 states the caps on CPD points across the applicable activities.
  • Certain activities, including committee membership and authoring a publication, are treated differently.

3. Become familiar with your obligations if you work part-time, pro-rata or as a locum.

  • Pro-rata concessions on the grounds of part-time work and locum work alone are not permitted.
  • Pro-rata concessions are permitted under rule 3.9 of the Practice Guideline for practitioners who have held their practising certificate for less than a full CPD year.
  • This concession can be calculated by practitioners using the table set out in rule 3.9 of the Practice Guideline. Practitioners are not required to make a formal application to the Society unless they are unsure of their calculations.

4. Application for Exemption and Extension. Note that if you require to apply for an extension or exemption that the timeframes are adhered to. See here.

5. Know the Practice Guidelines around compliance and reporting and being audited.

Recording CPD points
A practitioner must maintain a written record of CPD points accrued by that practitioner in respect of each CPD year. Supporting documentary evidence (e.g. receipts) should be retained for at least 2 years. This written record must include the following minimum information.

  1. the CPD activity, and event name (if applicable);
  2. date of event;
  3. CPD points claimed;
  4. mandatory category to which it relates; and
  5. provider or entity.

Tracking CPD Records – A Society member can keep track of CPD points accumulated when purchasing CPD resources through the Society’s website. Note, the Society is not able to maintain CPD records for its members. This is the member’s responsibility.

Certification of compliance

  • Under this scheme, CPD compliance is self-certified.
  • Subject to any exemptions or partial exemption granted by the Society under Practice Guideline no.4, a practitioner who makes application for renewal of a practising certificate (PC) must certify that they have completed a minimum of 10 CPD points in the CPD year preceding the year to which their application relates.
  • Practitioners who fail to comply must supply details of their non-compliance in the additional information box on the PC renewal form.

Exemption declaration
Practitioners who have received an exemption or partial exemption and have complied with their obligations (as applicable to them) should tick ‘yes’ in the compliance declaration section of their PC renewal form but should make a note of their exempt status in the additional information box.

Non-compliance declaration

  • Non-compliance with the CPD Scheme (including rectification) is dealt with in rule 6 of Practice Guideline no.4. Generally, practitioners will be asked to submit a rectification plan to the Society within 21 days.
  • Non-compliance is a professional conduct matter which will, in certain circumstances, be reported by the Society to the Legal Profession Board of Tasmania.

6. Become familiar with your obligations in the case of a CPD Audit

The Society audits of 5% of the legal profession each year to verify compliance with the mandatory CPD scheme. In conducting its annual audits, a reasonableness approach is adopted by the Society. If an activity can be easily substantiated by the Society no supporting evidence will be required. For example, if claiming points in association with Society committee membership or an article has been published in The Law Letter, documentary evidence of this is not required.

Rules 4.2, 5.1 and 5.2 – These rules indicate that the Society may request a practitioner’s compliance records. In case this occurs, it is the practitioner’s responsibility to make and retain CPD compliance records based on the minimum requirements listed under Rule 3.8 of Practice Guideline no. 4. Unless the Society makes a request, it does not require practitioners to send through (by mail or email) their CPD compliance records.

If a practitioner does not comply with a non-compliance audit notice within 30 days after the giving of the notice, the Society may exercise any of the powers giving to it pursuant to the Legal Profession Act 2007 including a referral to Legal Profession Board of Tasmania.

Requirements if audited
During the audit process the Society will request, in writing, from the practitioner details of their CPD activities and supporting evidence. This must include:

A. Details of the practitioner’s CPD activities (in the format listed below) for a specified period (limited to 24 months prior to the date of the written request) including a copy of the practitioners written record of points as required to be maintained under Rule 3.8 of the Practice Guideline.

  • the CPD activity, and event name (if applicable);
  • date of event;
  • CPD points claimed;
  • mandatory category to which it relates; and
  • provider or entity.

B. Supporting evidence such as:

  • receipts
  • enrolment records
  • certificates
  • attendance lists
  • statutory declarations
  • transcripts
  • copies of presentation notes

Whether you have practised a part or full year, the information you’ll need about your CPD obligations in Tasmania, including the CPD Practice Guideline 4, are found at CPD Obligations. If you were issued with a PC after the start of the year, see this CPD Pro Rata Guide for the number of CPD points, across the five mandatory categories, you will need to comply.

The CPD year in Tasmania runs 1 May to 30 April. Information on the minimum number of CPD points and mandatory CPD categories you need to acquire in a CPD year if you were not practising for the whole CPD year is covered by rule 3.9 of Practice Guideline no.4 which states: In relation to a practitioner who holds a local practising certificate for less than a CPD year, the reference in this rule to 10 CPD points in respect of that year is proportionally reduced in accordance with the table HERE.

See also this CPD Pro Rata Guide for how the number of points change depending on when a PC is acquired.

  1. Pro-rata concessions on the grounds of part-time work and locum work alone are not permitted.
  2. Pro-rata concessions are permitted under rule 3.9 of Practice Guideline no. 4 for practitioners who have held their practising certificate for less than a full CPD year.
  3. This concession can be calculated by practitioners using the table set out in rule 3.9 of the Practice Guideline. Practitioners are not required to make a formal application to the Society unless they are unsure of their calculations.

As at 1 May 2021, there are five mandatory CPD categories. This CPD requirement means when calculating the minimum 10 CPD points of CPD activity in respect of a CPD year, a legal practitioner’s total units must now include at least one (1) point from each of the following five categories:

  1. Practical legal ethics (E);
  2. Practice management or business skills (PM);
  3. Professional skills (PS);
  4. Substantive law (SL); and
  5. Equality and wellbeing (EW).

Determining the correct CPD category

  • Self-determining – CPD activities will often fall into more than one of the above categories. It is considered a matter for the practitioner’s own good judgment and discretion about how they choose to allocate their points, provided the allocation is reasonable.
  • Guidance – For examples of mandatory categories /core competency topics areas see Schedule 1 of Practice Guideline no 4.
  • Splitting the CPD hour – A practitioner attending a one-hour seminar may decide that the seminar was 50% professional skills and 50% substantive law. They may therefore elect to record 0.5 points for professional skills and 0.5 points for substantive law.

Yes, your identifiable Zoom login ID is important. Whilst the Society does not collect records of individual practitioner CPD event attendance*, it does cross check attendance against registrations, for example, for statistical purposes or to check attendance in the case of an audit. For in-person events, practitioners complete the sign-in sheet; for online events, the Society accesses the Zoom login report. This latter report allows the Society to check for unknown login IDs, and for security purposes the Society generally removes these attendees from the event.

The reason why an identifiable login ID is relevant to you
You want the Society to know that you ie. the Society member listed in the booking as the registrant/attendee – are attending the event, like physically signing in. If the Society sees a generic ID or a name the Society does not have on record it cannot identify the login, and this will likely result in removal from the event.

Examples:

  • Logins like boardroom@abclawyers.com.au do not make it clear to the Society who at that firm is attending (it could be the registrant, it might not be).
  • Login IDs like myiphone14, PJL, or 34897 etc., provide the Society with little information so attendance cannot be verified and may be removed from the event.
  • The name of a support staff member, or Society non-member, who has not indicated they are the attendee in the registration process is considered an unidentifiable login and will be removed. A fix for this is if a person registered to attend the event lets the Society know in reasonable time at cpd@lst.org.au before the event that they intend to login in under another name.

If you were unable to change your ID at login please contact the Society at cpd@lst.org.au asap after the event (ideally the day of the event), and let us know it was you!

*This is the responsibility of the practitioner as per Rule 3.8 of Practice Guideline no.4.

The Society’s event refund and cancellation policy, and T&Cs, can be found HERE.

Yes it does! So please take note of the selection you are making/have made when booking. The Society often provides you with a choice in how you attend a CPD event and you get to select this – in-person or livestreamed – when you book. BUT for planning purposes, and as a courtesy to the presenter – particularly when they have travelled from interstate – the Society needs to know ahead of event day if you are going to change how you attend. If you booked to attend in-person please commit to this and make every effort to be in the room with the presenter.

No, these are considered events attended in real -time and are the same for the purposes of your CPD points record…but read on for important information about this.

Practice Guideline no.4 separates CPD activities into ‘types’ and defines those types, and as such it is helpful to read Rule 3.3 with Rule 2.4. In particular, Rule 2.4(a) which states: (a) attendance at, or preparing or presenting material for, a seminar, interactive livestreamed webinar, workshop, lecture, conference, educational program or course or discussion group. This rule classes interactive livestreamed activities, i.e. attended in real-time, as in-person and this CPD activity therefore does not fall under the 5-point cap on recordings in Rule 3.3 (b). A livestreamed online webinar if attended in real-time is not considered a recording even if it is ‘viewed’ online.

Recordings: For the purposes of Practice Guideline no.4, pre-recorded webinars and recordings are not considered interactive livestreamed because they are not attended in real-time (and one cannot actively engage with the presenter in real-time) and therefore fall under Rule 2.4(c) and Rule 3.3(b). This type of CPD activity is capped at 5 CPD points.

CPD recordings fall under Rule 2.4(c) and Rule 3.3(b) of Practice Guideline no. 4. This type of CPD activity is capped at 5 CPD points.

Viewing a recording is not considered a ‘livestreamed’ activity as it is not being viewed in real-time. For the purposes of CPD compliance under Practice Guideline no.4, recordings are not considered interactive livestreamed because they are not attended in real-time (and one cannot actively engage with the presenter in real-time) and therefore fall under Rule 2.4(c) and Rule 3.3(b). This type of CPD activity is capped at 5 CPD points.

Avoid compromising your Society records with your booking by keeping it simple!

If you are wanting to transfer a booking to another member of your team, are eligible for a refund or need to amend a booking error, the Society needs to easily find your booking. This is time consuming when a booking is not clear or entries are unnecessarily creative. We have now provided some tips in the booking platform to help – please keep it simple!

  • Registrant – Correct entry format for your Society records – please don’t use all caps, and please list first and last name of person attending the session. Entries like ‘office/info/firm/a colleague/ your PA’ compromise your records.
  • Email Address – Please use the email address of person attending the session, and please double check for typos.
  • Checkout – At checkout generic and creative entries cause admin problems so please list the booker first and last name as a real person.

No. Refer to the definition of CPD activity at Practice Guideline no.4 rule 2.4(a) which states CPD activity means: attendance at, or preparing or presenting material for, a seminar, interactive live-streamed webinar, workshop, lecture, conference, educational program or course or discussion group. If you attend a CPD activity remotely, i.e. your are not in the physical room, but you are attended in real-time as it is being presented, it is not considered a recording and will not be limited by the 5-point CPD cap under Rule 3.3(b).

No. Rule 3.3 of Practice Guideline no.4 lists the caps on the amount of CPD points that can be acquired for certain activities, and in any one day. The Guideline does not list a cap on in-person CPD activities as the scheme mandates a minimum of 10 CPD points. Legal practitioners are able and encouraged to acquire as much continuing professional development that they regard of interest and benefit to them and their work.

Note however that there is a 6-point cap on the number of CPD points that can be recorded for compliance purposes in any one day.

No, not if they want to claim CPD points for CPD compliance and audit purposes.

Viewing Licence
Law Society of Tasmania CPD event registrations and recording purchases grant one viewing licence exclusive to the registered purchaser. Due to licensing restrictions the registered purchaser is the only person who can claim CPD points for audit purposes. So if you are not registered for an event or you have not purchased the product, or had this done for you by support staff, you cannot claim CPD points for viewing or attending. This is particularly important to note when tallying up your CPD points for end of CPD year compliance or audit purposes. As a Society member, to sustain the Society’s not-for-profit comparatively low cost program for you, your assistance in this good-will arrangement is critical.

Program sustainability
The Society encourages the good-will observation of the Society’s viewing licenses as this model is critical to the sustainability of the Society’s not-for-profit program and affordable pricing for Society members, which includes:

  • Accessible and diverse professional development.
  • Easy member login registration and member benefits (pricing and availability)
  • Dedicated program team.
  • Responsive program development and event management.
  • Quality presenter procurement and preparation – experts and professionals renowned-in-their-field.
  • The ability to pay fees (where applicable, for fee-earning trainers) whilst maintaining reasonable/accessible pricing for members.
  • Maintenance – technology and equipment.
  • Quality venues, livestream opportunities and recordings.

Yes, you can substitute into, or take the place of a colleague in, a CPD session. However, there are conditions that you will want to be mindful of.

  • All substitutions must be notified to the Society in writing to cpd@lst.org.au prior to the day of the session.
  • This information must include the first and last name of the substitution plus their email address. The Society also needs to know who they are substituting.
  • Where, due to unforeseen circumstances, a substitution is likely just before an event is to commence, the Society is to receive an email to cpd@lst.org.au as soon as practicable immediately before or early into the session.
  • Notification at the conclusion of, or after, the session will be too late and the substitution who attended the session will be invoiced accordingly.

Yes. Under rule 3.7 of Practice Guideline no. 4, where a practitioner has accrued excess CPD points, i.e. beyond those that meet compliance for the relevant CPD year, in February, March or April, the practitioner may elect to assign all or any of them to the next CPD year.

You are required to keep your own record of CPD activity so you know what CPD points you have acquired at any given time. When you book through the Society’s TryBooking portal you are sent an automated confirmation for your records. You will also find a record of the Society events you have attended by checking your inbox for your event receipts.

The Society does not maintain an events record for each individual practitioner. Any information held on the Society’s previous website was unfortunately not able to be retained in the move to this website. To keep a record of your points the Society recommends using the CPD Activity Points Tracker Record Form HERE.

Under rule 3.8 of Practice Guideline no 4, a practitioner must maintain a written record of CPD points accrued by that practitioner in respect of each CPD year. This written record must include the following minimum information:

(a) the CPD activity, and event name (if applicable);
(b) date of event;
(c) CPD points claimed;
(d) mandatory category to which it relates; and
(e) provider or entity.

No. In general a particular CPD activity is only claimable once. For example, if an hour of tertiary study is claimed, this activity cannot also be claimed as an hour of interactive livestreamed webinar attendance – it is either or.

A CPD year in Tasmania runs from 1 May to 30 April. See rule 2.7 of Practice Guideline no. 4.

Upcoming CPD activities and past recordings that can assist you to acquire your mandatory Equality and Wellbeing (EW) CPD points are often listed in the weekly CPD eNewsletter, otherwise please see the collated list of CPD activities HERE.

For a snapshot of CPD activities (as per Rule 2.4 of Practice Guideline no 4), their value and maximum limits, see this Summary of CPD Activities.

When making a decision about whether a CPD activity is relevant to your professional development, please use Rule 3.6 of Practice Guideline no.4 as a guide. This rule states:
3.6 Each CPD activity undertaken by a practitioner for the purposes of this Rule must be an activity:
(a) of significant intellectual or practical content primarily related to the practise of law; and
(b) conducted by persons qualified by practical or academic experience in the subject covered; and
(c) relevant to the practitioner’s immediate or long-term professional development needs.

By way of example, this includes considering:

  • whether the content of a CPD recording (no matter what year it was recorded) is still current and of value to you from a professional development perspective; or
  • whether an activity viewed, participated in or attended, outside the local Society CPD program attracts CPD points.
  • Formal approval, accreditation or physical certification of such CPD activity by this Society is not required as it is at your discretion as a legal practitioner as guided by Rule 3.6.

In the first instance, please complete and submit the EOI Form here. The Society will follow up with you or your recommendation. If you have a hot topic and would like to join the CPD Program as a presenter, we welcome your suggestions. For an idea of what CPD has already been offered, to see how your topic may fit within the program, and to get a feel for past seminar and webinar formats, you can look through past CPD events held by the Society in our CPD Newsletters. You may also be interested in the resources and information provided here.

See HERE for information about the Society’s venues, facilities and AV support hire.

The Society audits of 5% of the legal profession each year to verify compliance with the mandatory CPD scheme. In conducting its annual audits, a reasonableness approach is adopted by the Society. If an activity can be easily substantiated by the Society no detailed supporting evidence will be required. For example, if claiming points in association with Society committee membership or an article has been published in The Law Letter, detailed documentary evidence of this is not required.

Non-compliance with audit notice
If a practitioner does not comply with a non-compliance audit notice within 30 days after the giving of the notice, the Society may exercise any of the powers giving to it pursuant to the Legal Profession Act 2007 including a referral to Legal Profession Board of Tasmania.

Requirements if audited
During the audit process the Society will request, in writing (by a certain date), from the practitioner details of their CPD activities and supporting evidence. This must include:

1. Details of the practitioner’s CPD activities (in the format listed below) for a specified period (limited to 24 months prior to the date of the written request) including a copy of the practitioners written record of points as required to be maintained under rule 3.8 of Practice Guideline no. 4.

  • the CPD activity, and event name (if applicable);
  • date of event;
  • CPD points claimed;
  • mandatory category to which it relates; and
  • provider or entity.

2. Supporting evidence such as:

  • receipts
  • enrolment records
  • certificates
  • attendance lists
  • statutory declarations
  • transcripts
  • copies of presentation notes

For FAQs about the Sexual Harassment and Workplace Culture Workshops see here.