|
Where am I now? Lawlink > Lawyer Regulation in Australia > Admission
|
Print page
|
Admission
Background: towards a uniform national system
Admission requirements
Interstate and international admissions
Continuing legal education
Background: towards a uniform national system
As with complaint-handling and disciplinary rules and procedures, the admission of legal practitioners in Australia is regulated at the State/Territory level. Most jurisdictions have a dedicated regulatory body that supervises admissions and formulates the rules for that jurisdiction.
In 1992, however, the national Law Admissions Consultative Committee published the Uniform Admission Rules, which deal with both academic and practical admission requirements. These rules were revised and in February 2002 were published as Towards a National Legal Profession: Revised Uniform Admission Rules. The revised rules have been adopted in most jurisdictions.
Admission requirements
Despite the adoption of Uniform Admission Rules, there is still considerable variation in admission requirements and procedures amongst the States/Territories. Nevertheless, four essential requirements are common across all jurisdictions. To practice law in Australia a person must:
Obtain the necessary academic qualifications.
The formulation of rules about qualifications for admission, and scrutiny of applications for admission, are functions usually performed by other bodies. For example, in NSW these functions fall to the Legal Profession Admission Board.
Academic qualifications
In all States and Territories the minimum academic requirements are the following 11 areas of study (known as the ‘Priestley Eleven’):
- Criminal law and procedure
- Torts
- Contracts
- Property
- Equity
- Company law
- Administrative law
- Federal and state constitutional law
- Civil procedure
- Evidence
- Professional conduct (including basic trust accounting).
Practical legal training
Practical legal training for solicitors is different from that for barristers.
Solicitors
Prospective solicitors may gain their practical legal training in an increasingly diverse number of ways: articles of clerkship; courses delivered by dedicated institutions; courses offered in conjunction with Law degrees at universities; and in-house training in law firms.
The Revised Uniform Admission Rules recommend that students should have to achieve standards of competency in ten of the following areas of practice:
- Administrative law
- Civil litigation
- Commercial and corporate
- Consumer law
- Criminal law
- Employment and industrial relations
- Ethics and professional responsibility
- Family law
- Lawyers’ skills
- Planning and environmental law
- Problem solving
- Property law
- Trust and office accounting
- Wills and estate
- Work management and business skills.
Barristers
Novice barristers receive practical training in the form of pupillage programmes, readerships etc. These programmes are conducted under the guidance of experienced barristers and so offer mentorship too.
Admission to Court and enrolment
Having obtained the necessary academic qualifications and undertaken the required practical legal training, prospective practitioners have to apply to be admitted in the Supreme Court of their State/Territory and to be entered on its Roll of Legal Practitioners. In most jurisdictions there is a dedicated ‘admitting authority’ that administers and assesses these applications. For example, in NSW it is the Legal Profession Admission Board. In some jurisdictions there are separate admissions rules for solicitors and barristers.
Practising certificates
Having been admitted in court, prospective lawyers apply to their professional association for a practising certificate. Typically, prospective solicitors apply to a law society, prospective barristers to a bar association; but in ‘fused’ jurisdictions, such as South Australia, the law society issues practicing certificates for barristers as well as solicitors.
Practising certificates must be renewed annually. Renewal is usually subject to certain conditions, such as the completion of CLE and payment of Fidelity Funds and professional indemnity insurance.
Trial periods
The Revised Uniform Admission Rules and the Model Provisions recommend that newly-admitted lawyers undergo a trial period of restricted admission. For example, they suggest that a newly-admitted solicitor should be confined to practise as a supervised solicitor for the first two years.
Interstate and international admissions
Law students
Contact the Admission Board within the State or Territory where you will be residing for admission regulations or access the links below for information.
Legal practitioners
See Mobility
Continuing legal education
In all States/Territories, continuing legal education is encouraged, and in some cases obligatory, for solicitors and barristers. It may also be a condition of renewal of a practising certificate.
Back to top
|
|
