Reference Guide · Updated 18 May 2026
A plain-English summary of Continuing Professional Development obligations for Australian solicitors and barristers: 10 units per year, mandatory categories spanning ethics, practice management, professional skills, and substantive law, plus the state-by-state rules and recordkeeping obligations.
Step 1 — The Mandatory Categories
In almost every Australian jurisdiction, solicitors must earn at least 10 CPD units each year, with mandatory minimums in specified categories. The pattern is consistent — only the naming and emphasis varies slightly.
| Category | Minimum | Typical content |
|---|---|---|
| Ethics and professional responsibility | 1 unit (minimum) | Australian Solicitors' Conduct Rules (or Barristers' Rules), confidentiality, conflicts of interest, professional integrity, dealing with self-represented parties, anti-money laundering obligations. |
| Practice management and business skills | 1 unit (minimum) | Costs disclosure and billing, trust account compliance, supervision, mentoring, time and matter management, technology adoption, cybersecurity for law firms, supervision of staff. |
| Professional skills | 1 unit (minimum) | Advocacy, negotiation, drafting, interviewing, advice writing, mediation skills, cross-cultural communication, dealing with vulnerable clients. |
| Substantive law | remainder up to 10 | Updates in your practice areas — case law, legislation, procedural reform, regulatory changes. The bulk of most practitioners' CPD year sits in this category. |
Mandatory minimums shown reflect the dominant national pattern. Check your state regulator's current rules for exact requirements.
Step 2 — State-by-State
The 10-unit annual baseline is national. The detail — category names, definitions, accepted providers, audit practice — varies by jurisdiction.
Step 3 — Earning the Units
Most regulators recognise a broad range of activities, provided they are conducted by an accredited provider or meet self-assessment criteria for relevance and rigour.
1 unit per hour of attendance. CPD-accredited conferences from Law Societies, Bar Associations, and accredited providers (e.g. College of Law, LegalWise, Television Education Network).
1 unit per hour of completed learning, where the provider is accredited or the activity meets self-assessment criteria. Recordings often acceptable for self-paced learning.
Units for authoring articles in accredited legal publications, peer-reviewed journals, or substantive CLE materials. Editorial work and translation also recognised in some states.
Multiplier units for presenting accredited CPD content or teaching law at a recognised university (typically 1 unit prep per 1 unit presentation, capped per year).
Recognised tertiary study (e.g. Master of Laws, GDLP modules taken post-admission) credits CPD units, often pro-rated by subject hours.
Many states allow a limited number of self-study units per year (typically capped at 2–3) for reading accredited material with documented learning outcomes.
Complete the ethics, practice management, and professional skills units in the first six months of the CPD year (April– September). Substantive-law content is abundant year-round; the mandatory categories run out of slots faster than you think near year-end.
A simple spreadsheet (date, provider, title, category, units, certificate URL) takes 30 seconds per entry and saves hours during audit. Most practice management systems include a CPD tracker — use it consistently from the start of the year.
Treat CPD as an opportunity, not a tick-box. The 1-unit ethics requirement is a natural moment to refresh on the Solicitors' Conduct Rules; the practice management unit is the moment to learn AML, cybersecurity, or the latest trust-account rule changes.
Every March, CPD providers schedule heavy programmes for last-minute compliance. Their sessions are valuable but expensive (peak demand) and exhausting if you stack 8 units in a fortnight. Spread the load across the year for both wallet and brain.
In every Australian state and territory, the CPD year runs 1 April to 31 March, aligning with the practising certificate renewal cycle. You must complete your 10 units within this window and declare compliance when you renew your PC.
Most regulators require you to disclose non-compliance on PC renewal. The standard response is a remediation plan — you complete the shortfall plus an additional 5 units in the following year, with proof submitted. Repeated non-compliance can lead to PC conditions (supervised practice, restricted practice rights), refusal to renew, or referral to the discipline body. The penalties scale rapidly for repeat offenders.
Yes, generally. Mutual recognition under the Uniform Law and inter-state cooperation means CPD completed in one Australian jurisdiction counts toward your CPD obligation in another. The activity still needs to meet the destination state's category and accreditation rules — most major providers are accredited in multiple states.
Yes, broadly aligned but separately administered. NSW Bar, Victorian Bar, Queensland Bar, and the state Bar Associations each maintain their own CPD rules. The annual unit requirement is similar (10 points) but mandatory categories may differ (e.g. Bar rules emphasise advocacy and ethics more heavily than practice management).
Five years. CPD records must be retained for at least 5 years from the date of the activity and produced on regulator demand. The record should include: date, activity description, provider, hours/units, category, and any attendance evidence (certificate, registration confirmation). Many practitioners keep an annual CPD log spreadsheet or use a CPD tracker built into their practice management software.
Generally no — each activity is attributed to a single category for the purposes of the mandatory minimums. However, some activities are explicitly multi-category (e.g. an ethics-in-practice-management seminar) and providers will indicate which category each session counts toward. Plan your CPD year so the mandatory categories are completed early; do not rely on residual substantive-law content to cover ethics or practice management.
OneBookPlus is the AU-built workspace for Australian law practices. Matter intake, time recording, trust accounting, client portals — and a CPD log that's ready for audit.
Last reviewed and updated: by Bishal Shrestha
About the author
Founder & CEO, OneBookPlus
Bishal has over a decade of experience in digital marketing, web development, and small business consulting across Australia. He has helped solicitors plan annual CPD across the four mandatory categories and meet state-society audit demands at PC-renewal time.
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