CPD Requirements For All Solicitors In 2023

As a practising solicitor, you must remain compliant and up to date with professional skills development programs to earn your CPD points. Receiving annual CPD points allows you to continue your professional journey. There are more benefits to gaining CPD points, including remaining up to date with current information, avoiding job stagnation, and making advancements in your career. But what exactly are the lawyer CPD requirements in 2022? We discuss this below. 

What Are The CPD Rules? 

The CPD rules outline the kinds of professional development activities that earn you CPD points. The rules are as follows and, in general, each activity must:

• Be related to the practice of law, and be of significant intellectual content;
• Be created by a qualified individual with practical or academic experience in the given topic, and
• Extend your knowledge further in your practice or career.

In a year, every solicitor must complete 10 CPD units, with at least one focused on the following:

• Practice management and business skills
• Ethics and professional responsibility
• Substantive law
• Professional skills 

What Are CPD Activity Options?

Concerning your CPD options, a range of activities is available to select from to gain your ten annual points. We recommend pre-planning your route and experimenting with different formats to make the process as rewarding as possible.

Some options to choose from include:

• Participating in lectures, workshops, group talks, or seminars, either online or in person.
• Prepare, edit or research a legal article.
• Prepare and present a CPD activity.
• Become a member of a task force, legal committee or practice section if the work aligns with your area of law.
• Undergo postgraduate studies relevant to needs.
• Undertake private studies of learning materials designed to improve and update your knowledge about your niche practice. 

Are There Exceptions To Keep In Mind?

Yes, if you have not had a practising certificate for the entirety of that working or practising year, then you only have to gain the number of points for the time you had a certificate. If something hindered your ability to spend the time to gain all your points, then you may apply for an exception, detailing your reason and experience.

As a solicitor or barrister, obtaining your CPD points each year is crucial to your professional development and reliability. Legalwise Seminars can help you receive the necessary CPD requirements for the year. To discover more, get in touch today.