Reminder: new Principal practising certificates from 1 January 2019
RPA News email bulletin No. 46, issued September 2018
Last updated on
‘Show cause events’ involve serious matters that may affect whether you are fit and proper to practise law. They can happen to you in Victoria or in any other Australian jurisdiction.
If you hold a current practising certificate, or a foreign lawyer registration certificate, you must tell us of any show cause events that have occurred to you.
If you are applying for a new practising certificate or registration certificate, you also must tell us of any show cause events that have happened to you at any time before you applied.
There are two kinds of show cause events; automatic and designated.
These include:
If you hold a current certificate, you must notify us within 7 days of one of these events occurring.
It does not matter if you were practising law at the time the offence occurred or not. It does not matter if the law prohibits any other persons from disclosing your identity. It is still a show cause event.
These include:
If we send you a notice about any of these, we may ask you to explain to us why we should not vary, suspend or cancel your certificate. You will have 28 days to provide us with your response.
Please notify us using the Notice of show cause event form. If you are a solicitor, please send the completed form to us directly. If you are a barrister, please send the completed form to the Victorian Bar.
Within 28 days, you must also tell us in writing why you believe you are still a fit and proper person to hold a practising certificate, despite the show cause event.
Either we or the Victorian Bar will consider whether you are a fit and proper person. Our Fit and Proper Person Policy provides guidance on issues we may consider when deciding whether you are a fit and proper person to hold a practising certificate.
If you fail to tell us of a show cause event, we may refuse to grant or renew your application for a practising certificate or registration certificate, or we may vary, suspend or cancel your existing certificate. (See sections 85 to 92 of the Uniform Law.)
Over the course of your legal practice, your circumstances may change. Some changes affect how we can best contact you if we need to, while others can affect your ability to engage in legal practice. This page explains what those disclosures are and when you should make them.
If your personal and/or professional contact details change, we need to know. It is vital that we have accurate records of all lawyers and law practices. This allows us to contact you about regulatory issues, such as renewing your practising certificate and changes to the law. Accurate records will also allow consumers to check and confirm that you are entitled to engage in legal practice.
If any of the following personal or professional details change, please let us know as soon as possible:
You can notify us of these changes through LSB Online.
If you are a locally registered foreign lawyer, you should notify us using the form: Notification of change of information – Australian-registered foreign lawyer.
If you have moved to Victoria from interstate or overseas, you must let us know within 14 days if you intend to practise law in Victoria.
If you have a current practising certificate or a registration certificate, you must tell us of any ‘show cause events’ that has occurred For more information on show cause events, please see the Show cause events page.
If you have a mental health condition and it does not interfere with your capacity to engage in legal practice, we do not require you to disclose it to us.
As the regulator, we are only concerned with issues (whether involving mental health or otherwise) that impact on a lawyer’s legal practice. Our focus is on encouraging lawyers to seek help from appropriate support services if they have a mental health condition.
We will treat all disclosures about your mental health with strict confidentiality and without discrimination. It will not necessarily lead us to decide that you are not fit to practise.
For more information on how we deal with mental health issues, please see our Mental Health Policy.
Certain types of lawyers must make an annual contribution to the Fidelity Fund. This needs to be done when you apply for a new certificate, or when you apply to renew your existing certificate. Approved barristers’ clerks and some foreign lawyers are also required to make an annual contribution.
Contribution amounts are set based on a range of factors, including practising certificate type and trust money received in a 12-month period.
We may adjust contribution amounts each year based on the balance of the Fidelity Fund and the advice of actuaries who help us manage the Fidelity Fund.
There are different fee requirements for Victorian lawyers, foreign lawyers and approved barristers’ clerks. See below for the fee category that applies to you.
Please note: where we refer to the amount of trust money handled below, we do not include ‘controlled money’ or ‘transit money’ that your practice may handle.
| Trust money received for year ending 31 October 2024 | If you or your law practice received $0 - $750,000 in trust money | If you or your law practice received more than $750,000 in trust money |
|---|---|---|
| Principal, employee or foreign lawyer authorised to receive trust money | $335 | $667 |
| Principal NOT authorised to receive trust money | $335 | $667 |
| Employee NOT authorised to receive trust money | $162 | $162 |
| Foreign lawyer NOT authorised to receive trust money | $162 | $162 |
| Approved barristers’ clerks | $335 | $667 |
Exempt lawyers
Exempt foreign lawyers
There are different fee requirements for Victorian lawyers, foreign lawyers and approved barristers’ clerks. See below for the fee category that applies to you.
Please note: where we refer to the amount of trust money handled below, we do not include ‘controlled money’ or ‘transit money’ that your practice may handle.
| Trust money received for year ending 31 October 2023 | If you or your law practice received $0 - $750,000 in trust money | If you or your law practice received more than $750,000 in trust money |
|---|---|---|
| Principal, employee or foreign lawyer authorised to receive trust money | $322 | $641 |
| Principal NOT authorised to receive trust money | $322 | $641 |
| Employee NOT authorised to receive trust money | $156 | $156 |
| Foreign lawyer NOT authorised to receive trust money | $156 | $156 |
| Approved barristers’ clerks | $322 | $641 |
Exempt lawyers
Exempt foreign lawyers
To practise law in Victoria, you must be admitted to the legal profession in Australia, or hold a registration certificate as an Australian-registered foreign lawyer.
If you hold a practising certificate other than one issued in Victoria, New South Wales or Western Australia, you must notify us via our lawyer enquiry form that you intend to practise here. You will also need to provide us with a copy of your current practising certificate and evidence that you are covered by professional indemnity insurance. If the majority of your clients are located in Victoria, to continue to practise here after 30 June you will need to hold a practising certificate issued in Victoria.
If you don’t hold a current practising certificate and you engage in legal practice, you will be committing as serious offence. For more information, see our Unqualified legal practice page.
You cannot practice law if you aren't covered by professional indemnity insurance.
All admissions in Victoria are managed by the Victorian Legal Admissions Board.
When you’re admitted to the legal profession in Victoria, you become an officer of the Supreme Court of Victoria. You must meet your professional obligations that come with being an officer of the Court under the Legal Profession Uniform Law and its supporting legal professional rules.
To appear in front of a federal court, your name must also be admitted to the High Court of Australia.
You must hold a practising certificate before you can begin legal practice. In Victoria, we issue practising certificates for all solicitors, while the Victorian Bar issues practising certificates to barristers on our behalf.
We will only grant you a practising certificate if you are:
You’re eligible to apply for a Victorian-issued practising certificate if you anticipate that you will be based either solely or mainly in Victoria for the duration of your certificate.
If you live in Victoria but don’t know where your practice will be based, or you will practise Australian law overseas, you are eligible to apply for a Victorian practising certificate.
You cannot hold two different Australian practising certificates at the same time.
When you apply for your practising certificate or want to renew it, we’ll consider whether you’re a fit and proper person to hold one. We’ll ask you to tell us things about you in your application and take these into account when considering your application.
Our Fit and Proper Person Policy outlines what we’ll consider.
Some events are called ‘show cause events’. This is something that casts doubt on whether you’re a fit and proper person to hold a practising certificate, including serious criminal offences, tax offences and bankruptcy.
You must notify us within 7 days of a show cause event happening to you. For further information about what makes up a show cause event and how to notify us, see the Show cause page.
Your practising certificate may carry conditions which we can add and remove as appropriate.
Conditions include:
You can volunteer at a community legal centre on any type of practising certificate.
Once your practising certificate is granted, you must abide by its conditions. If you don’t, we can amend, suspend or cancel it.
If you hold a current practising certificate from another state in Australia, or from an overseas jurisdiction, you may be eligible to practise in Victoria with special conditions.
You can engage in legal practice in Victoria, but your practise will be subject to the same conditions imposed on your practising certificate in your home jurisdiction. We may also apply conditions to your practising certificate, if appropriate.
Subject to certain exemptions, you must be registered with us as a foreign lawyer before you can practice the law of a foreign country within Victoria. You can’t practise Australian law.
If you hold a practising certificate issued in Australia, you can practise the law of a foreign country in Victoria, provided you are authorised by that foreign country to practise their law.
If you meet one of the following criteria, you don’t need to apply to us to be registered as a foreign lawyer:
If you’re an Australian-registered foreign lawyer you can:
Professional indemnity insurance (PII) provides law practices with coverage against legal liability that may arise from their professional services.
If you are a lawyer working in private practice or for a community legal service, you must be covered by an approved PII policy before you can practise law in Victoria.
If you are engaged with multiple law practices, each practice must be covered by PII. It is the responsibility of the principal to ensure the law practice has appropriate PII cover.
Corporate legal practitioners and government legal practitioners are not required to hold PII except when engaging in legal practice as a volunteer (see Corporate and Government lawyers below).
As a lawyer working in private practice, you must hold or be covered by an approved PII policy in Victoria, unless we have granted you an exemption. The Legal Practitioners’ Liability Committee (LPLC) generally issues PII policies for Victorian lawyers who work in private practice.
If you hold a policy that is not issued by the LPLC, you will need to apply for a PII exemption (see exemptions below).
If you are a Victorian lawyer who is employed by an interstate law practice, the principal must provide us with a copy of the law practice’s approved interstate PII policy and a copy all of the interstate Principal Practising Certificates. They can do this via the lawyer enquiry form.
Community legal services must hold an approved insurance policy covering the CLS itself, each of the lawyers who work for it, and the actual work they do.
Both the National Association of Community Legal Centres and the Victorian Managed Insurance Authority offer approved policies to cover a CLS. If you hold a policy with them, you must submit your certificate of insurance annually to us through the lawyer enquiry form.
If you hold a policy with another provider, you will need to apply to have it approved pursuant to section 13 of the Uniform Application Act. You can do this by sending us a copy of the full policy via the lawyer enquiry form.
If you’re a corporate or government lawyer, you don’t need professional indemnity insurance unless you are volunteering at a CLS (in which case the CLS will generally arrange PII) or intend to provide pro bono legal services outside of a CLS. In this case, you will need to be covered by insurance.
In certain cases, the Australian Pro Bono Centre may provide free PII to you if you are working on pro bono projects that have been approved by the Centre. You can find out more about this by contacting the Australian Pro Bono Centre.
Where you are unable to obtain PII through the Australian Pro Bono Centre, a private PII policy will need to be obtained, and you will need to apply to have the policy approved. You can do this by sending us a copy of the full policy and any schedules via the lawyer enquiry form.
If you are based overseas but practising remotely in Victoria, you will need to either hold a policy that is issued by the LPLC, or you will need to apply to us for an exemption (see exemptions below).
If you’re an Australian-registered foreign lawyer, you don’t need to hold professional indemnity insurance. You don’t need to apply for an exemption from us, but you must tell each of your clients in writing whether you’re covered by other professional indemnity insurance or not. If you are covered, you must tell your clients the type and extent of your insurance.
For more information on practising as a foreign lawyer, see our foreign law and lawyers page.
If you do not fall into one of the categories listed above and you hold insurance that is not issued by the LPLC, you will need to apply for an exemption by providing relevant documentation to demonstrate you hold appropriate coverage with another provider. The policy must comply with the minimum requirements for insurance that are set out in rule 78 of the Legal Profession Uniform General Rules 2015. An exemption will only be granted by the Board in cases where a policy complies with the minimum requirements of PII.
You can apply for an exemption by submitting a copy of your full PII policy and a summary of how your policy complies with the minimum requirements. A template table outlining the minimum requirements can be found here. Your application can be submitted via our lawyer enquiry form.
This fact sheet provides guidance on how supervision may look in practice, and sets out practical approaches for supervisors
As a newly admitted lawyer, you will be subject to the supervised legal practice condition. This means that you must be supervised while you engage in legal practice. Your supervised legal practice period is either 18 months or two years, depending on how you qualified for admission. During this time, you can only engage in legal practice if you are supervised by a properly qualified supervisor.
Newly admitted interstate and international lawyers (including from New Zealand) practising in Victoria are also subject to this condition.
The supervised legal practice condition does not apply if you’re a:
Our guidelines for supervisors provide further information to help supervisors and supervised lawyers understand their obligations.
Once you’ve finished your supervised period, you need to apply to have the condition removed from your certificate (this doesn't happen automatically). This will allow you to engage in legal practice without being supervised.
Your period of supervised legal practice begins once you’ve been granted a Practising Certificate and commenced engaging in legal practice. How you qualified for admission will determine your supervision period:
If you practised part time, only the time that you were actually practising can be counted towards your supervision period.
Supervision should be provided by another lawyer who works at the same law practice and who holds an Australian practising certificate that is not subject to the statutory supervision condition or a discretionary condition that prohibits them from supervising others.
If you are undertaking legal practice as a corporate or government lawyer, you must be supervised by a person who either holds, or is eligible to hold but exempted from holding, an Australian practising certificate which authorises them to supervise others. If you work at a different entity to your supervisor, you must notify us and submit a remote supervision plan for our approval.
If you’ve completed your supervision period you must ask us to remove the condition before you can practise without supervision. You can find out more about this on the How to remove your supervised legal practice condition page.
Under certain conditions, you may qualify for an exemption from some or all of your supervised legal practice period. For example, you may be able to claim an exemption for any time that you spent practising as a barrister, or practising overseas.
You can apply for an exemption by submitting to us:
You can use the template Statutory Declaration when applying for an exemption.
Please see our page relating to remote supervision arrangements.