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Where am I now? Lawlink > Legal Profession Admission Board > Overseas Practitioners
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Overseas Practitioners
Latest News
Guidelines for the assessment of overseas qualifications have been removed from the Boards website. Uniform Principles for the assessment of overseas applicants for admission have been adopted by all Australian admitting authorities.
Download the Uniform Principles for assessing qualifications of overseas applicants for admission to the Australian Legal Profession
The Uniform Principles for Assessment of Overseas Applicants for Admission dated February 2008 will apply from the date of publication. From this date the Academic Exemption and Practical Legal Training Exemptions Sub-Committees and the Legal Qualifications Committee will have regard to those Uniform Principles in exercising their functions and discretions under Rules 97 and 98 of the Legal Profession Admission Board Rules 2005, in so far as that is consistent with the application of those Rules to the circumstances of the individual cases.
Date of Publication: 7 April 2008.
English Language Proficiency Exemption
You will not be required to take the IELTS test in the following instances:
Local Qualification
On the 5th of August 2008, the Board resolved that any applicant for admission who has attained their law degree or diploma in law which fulfills the academic requirements for admission in Australia will be exempt from the IELTS requirements for English Language Proficiency.
Overseas Qualification
If you are relying on an overseas qualification in law, you will not be required to take the IELTS test if you have undertaken both the final two years of secondary school and your academic legal qualification in one of the countries in the (list below) and you lived in that country or countries for the entire duration of your studies, provided the language of instruction in both cases was English.
List of Countries
Countries acknowledged as a country where English is the native or first language:
· Canada
· Republic of Ireland
· New Zealand
· United Kingdom and Northern Ireland
· USA
· South Africa
Assessment of Qualifications
The Legal Profession Admission Board assesses legal qualifications to the extent to which those qualifications qualify a person for admission as a lawyer in New South Wales.
A person who has attained legal qualifications overseas and wishes to apply for assessment/meet requirements for admission, should proceed as follows:
- apply for academic exemptions, using Form 16. (The Academic Exemptions Sub-Committee of the Legal Profession Admission Board is responsible for making the decision as to how many subjects one would need to undertake before satisfying the academic requirements for admission in New South Wales). Please note, no advice can be given in advance of any application for academic exemption.
- register as a student-at-law with the Board's Diploma in Law course or undertake remaining studies with another institution: see the Board's Second and Fourth Schedule for accredited Law Schools).
- enrol for, and undertake, the required academic subjects;
- if you have taken academic subjects outside the Board's course after completion of those subjects you will be required to lodge a further application for academic exemption using form 16 together with a copy of the Board's letter and prescribed fee to have those subjects assessed. Once determined the board can then provide a final assessment letter.
- alternatively, you can seek a prospective assessment to determine whether the subjects you are proposing to take meet the sub-committees requirements. This can be done prior to enrolment by lodging form 16 together with the course outlines and content for each of the courses together with the prescribed fee.
- before completing the academic subjects, where applicable, if eligible (check eligibility) apply for exemption from practical training using Form 17, OR, complete an accredited practical training course (see the Board's Fourth Schedule);
- on completion of requirements apply for admission using Form 11. Applications for admission must be accompanied by two character references in Form 3A.
- To be admitted, attendance in the Supreme Court of NSW is compulsory.
New Zealand Practitioners
Practitioners from New Zealand may apply under the Trans Tasman Mutual Recognition Act 1996. Admissions under this Act are administered by the Supreme Court of New South Wales and enquiries may be forwarded directly to the Registrar of the Supreme Court of New South Wales, Queen's Square, Sydney, 2000 (Ph: (02) 9230 8063), Email: supreme_court@agd.nsw.gov.au.
For information on how to prepare the application to the Supreme Court of New South Wales please see: Practice note SC Gen 8.
Immigration Assessments
Immigration authorities have indicated to the Board that the assessment that they will find satisfactory is one that says '(applicants name)' has been admitted as a Lawyer in NSW and, in the opinion of the Board, has suitable skills for a legal practitioner. Therefore, in order to obtain a "Skilled Migration Letter", a person will need to have overseas qualifications assessed in accordance with rules 97 and 98 of the Legal Profession Admission Rules 2005 and then be admitted as a lawyer.
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