 | |  |  |  |  | Continuing Professional Development:
New Statutory Instrument 452/2009 which came in to effect as of the 01st of January 2010 can be viewed on the below website:
http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/2009/en/si/0452.html
The 2010 cycle runs from the 1st January 2010 and will end on 31 December 2010.
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is further education or training or both, whether relating to law or to management and professional skills, which is intended to develop the solicitor in his/her professional knowledge, skills and abilities.
Solicitors to whom the regulations apply are required to undertake ELEVEN (11) hours continuing professional development during THIS CPD year.
CPD cycles will consist of one year's duration (ie. one calendar year).
This cycle consists of a one year period - 1 January 2010 to 31 December 2010.
The Requirement of eleven hours must be comprised of a minimum of 3 hours of "Management and Professional Development Skills" courses, and a minimum of one hour comprising of regulatory matters.
Group study means an organised session of education or training (or both), undertaken in a group of three or more people that lasts for a period of not less than thirty minutes.
It must be in a form that can be verified. Group study includes the following: lectures; workshops; seminars; tutorials; video conferenced lectures/tutorials or diploma or certificate courses.
These may be run by firms, the Law Society, local bar associations such as the Southern Law Association, the Society of Young Solicitors and other legal associations, universities, other teaching institutions or other relevant organisations. Group study may take place within or outside Ireland. It does not need to be in groups that are comprised of solicitors. It must, however, be relevant to the practice of the solicitor. Credit is given for the actual contact hours or a course excluding any breaks or registration time.
The Law Society will not be awarding accreditation to any courses or course providers. Solicitors should exercise their own reasonable judgement on what training is relevant to their particular practice requirements.
There may be a considerable lapse of time between the date of occurrence of a training event and the date on which verification of attendance is sought for compliance purposes. Solicitors should retain proof of attendance at training events (such as an appropriate letter from the provider or a certificate confirming attendance).
Some group study will involve workshops and role-play. Courses requiring delegates’ active participation in these ways are more effective than traditional lecture-based courses. Solicitors undertaking such participation may count an additional one-quarter (25%) of the actual time of the course towards their CPD requirement.
The preparation and delivery of training for and teaching to others is a very effective means of learning. Solicitors who give lectures or tutorials in any form of relevant group study may count preparation time up to a maximum of four hours towards the CPD group study requirement, in addition to actual presentation time. If the particular lecture or tutorial is repeated the tutor/lecturer may credit one additional hour for preparation.
A frequent difficulty experienced by solicitors relates to poor management (such as poor communication with clients or problems in financial management). For this reason at least THREE hours of the total CPD cycle shall be spent on training in management and professional development skills. This is a broad heading and includes professional ethics, financial and business management, human resource management, budget control, practise management skills, computer skills, language enhancement relevant to the practice of law, professional ethics, advocacy and client care. This list is not exhaustive.
E-learning is a new feature of the revised CPD Scheme. E-learning is defined in the Regulations as the provision of education or training (or both) that is generated, communicated, processed, sent, received, recorded, stored and/or displayed by electronic means or in electronic form and includes that provided through:
1. the internet or other computer network connections
2. by sound only, sound and vision or a combination of both
3. by the provision of an electronic file, a CD-Rom and/or DVD
4. and other technologies and formats as may be advised from time to time.
The form of e-learning undertaken must be in a verifiable format. For example, if you complete an online course there must be an online end of course assessment that can verify that learning took place, and/or a certificate that can be printed to show the online course was completed. Verification of completion of e-learning in whatever format undertaken is the responsibility of the solicitor who is claiming the hours, and will be reviewed by the Education Committee on an ongoing basis.
E-learning may occupy up to a maximum of two hours of the annual ten hour requirement on an individual basis.
Group study CPD may be claimed for participation in the development of specialist areas of law and practice by attending meetings of specialist committees and/or working groups of relevant professional or other competent bodies. The maximum number of hours that can be credited for such attendance in any cycle is seven.
In order for such participation to qualify for CPD credit the answer to all of the following requirements must be ‘yes’:
Does the work:
1. develop specialist areas of law and practice?
2. further the knowledge and/or skill of the committee/working group member beyond that which would be expected of a solicitor going about his or her own normal day to day work?
3. deal with issues of substantive law not related to the social, administrative or non-legal aspects of the Law Society’s or other bodies’ work?
4. relate to the law itself and not to the impact of legal changes on other business issues for example, personnel, finance, marketing matters?
5. take place on a voluntary and unpaid basis?
Where the answer to any of these five questions is ‘no’ then the meeting does not qualify for CPD credit.
NOTE:
(a) It is recognised that in some cases only part or parts of a meeting will meet these criteria. In these cases, only time spent on this part of the meeting may be claimed.
(b) Actual attendance at the meeting is necessary for CPD credit to be claimed.
(c) Meeting the requirements of CPD is a solicitor’s own responsibility. Attendance must be recorded on the solicitor’s training record. The Society reserves the right to call for the appropriate minutes of the meeting from the solicitor. Committees or working groups holding meetings do not need to seek accreditation from the Law Society. However, it may be useful if they discuss in advance whether they believe these meetings do satisfy the criteria.
Solicitors are asked to verify their compliance with the CPD Scheme on their practising certificates' applications on an annual basis. Then, the Society may subsequently request sight of an applicant’s Record Card and/or proof of CPD attendances as part of the Society’s audit review process. Solicitors are asked not to return their record cards unless requested by the Society.
The Society will study a random sample of CPD record cards to check that the required hours of CPD have been completed and will take appropriate steps to verify that the solicitors in the sample selection have undertaken the group study part of the CPD. Group study may be verified by requesting the solicitor to produce proof of attendance or in the case of delivering a lecture by a request for a transcript of the lecture and the programme of the training event.
If a solicitor has not complied with the CPD regulations, he/she may be referred to the Education Committee in the first instance. At that time, an explanation shall be sought from the solicitor, they can be invited to interview and a further time for compliance may be granted. If a solicitor does not follow the direction of the Committee at that time, such continued failure to comply may be referred to the Disciplinary Tribunal for investigation.
Solicitors in full time employment of the State are asked to verify their compliance with the CPD Scheme by 1 June each year, to the CPD Scheme Executive. They may be then requested to provide further proof of attendance as part of the audit review process that applies to all solicitors.
If preferred, a solicitor may return their Record Card online, using the Law Society’s website. The online record card is in the secure Member’s area, and a solicitor is required to log in to this area before they can access this online functionality. The information submitted is sent to the CPD Scheme section and is then reviewed.
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