Section 140(3) of the Legal Profession Act 2004 requires legal practitioner directors of ILPs to ensure that “appropriate management systems” are implemented and maintained to ensure that the provision of legal services by ILPs complies with the requirements of the Act and Regulations. Failure to comply can amount to professional misconduct.

While the legislation does not define “appropriate management systems”, the OLSC, working collaboratively with the Law Society of NSW, LawCover and the College of Law, has adopted an “education towards compliance” strategy and has developed a set of objectives covering the areas that must be addressed to demonstrate that the ILP has appropriate management systems in place.

All ILPs are required to self- assess their management systems and rate their compliance with the ten objectives in the Self-Assessment Document. The document outlines the key concepts for solicitor directors to consider and provides suggested approaches to ensure the ILP meets the objectives. The suggestions are not exhaustive or prescriptive, as each ILP will differ in terms of its size and the nature of legal work undertaken. It will be up to each ILP to determine the most effective systems for their practices.

The OLSC is developing a library of material relevant to the ten objectives and copies of helpful handouts/templates/guides are available upon request. Please contact the OLSC if you require such assistance. Alternatively, you may contact our Practice Compliance Manager on (02) 9377 1800 for further information.