New year – new CPD Regulations
New CPD Regulations (Solicitors (Continuing Professional Development) Regulations 2015, SI 480 of 2015) came into effect on 1 January 2016. Solicitors are advised to familiarise themselves with these new regulations and the new scheme, which are both available in the CPD scheme section of the ‘Solicitors’ area on the Law Society website.
With the introduction of the new regulations, it is a good opportunity to remind solicitors to be cognisant of CPD obligations and of the importance of completing relevant and quality CPD.
Importance and benefits
It is often asked why CPD is important and why it matters.
Simply put, CPD assists in ensuring solicitors remain competent in providing a professional service by ensuring their knowledge and skills are relevant and up-to-date. It is an indicator of professionalism and opens up new knowledge and skills areas, which may assist in career and practice advancement.
CPD also aids in developing personal qualities that are required – but sometimes overlooked – to effectively perform a job or function at a higher standard with enhanced professionalism, capability and skill. Undertaking CPD supplements and complements the continuous ‘on-the-job’ experience gained through day-to-day practice, thereby ensuring a valuable and quality service is provided to clients and colleagues alike.
Plan and prepare
Solicitors are reminded to give thought to planning CPD that is relevant to their practice, as training is shown to be of greater benefit to solicitors when planned. There is always a need to broaden existing knowledge and to learn and develop further. It is important to invest time in considering your CPD needs, and it is best, therefore, to take a planned approach to it. Planning training also enables solicitors to reflect and take account of their changing requirements and needs, and to identify where there are gaps in their knowledge and skill-set and how these may be overcome and addressed by attending and completing relevant CPD training.
The Society is mindful of the constant time pressures solicitors are under, which may result in constraints on solicitors spending time outside of the office to attend training courses or seminars. With the popularity of mobile and portable devices, there is an increasing appetite to use such platforms more and more frequently. With this in mind, the new scheme has increased the e-learning limit per CPD cycle. Online learning permits solicitors to decide when and where is convenient for them to complete CPD, and it offers the requisite flexibility to solicitors to find a way of putting disposable time to good use.
Solicitors are also reminded and encouraged to attend and complete CPD training throughout the CPD cycle and avoid a rush to fulfil their CPD obligations in the last few weeks of the year, which is often the busiest time for a legal firm or practice.
CPD regulations 2016
The new regulations introduce a number of changes to the CPD scheme, all of which are detailed in the new scheme booklet.
2016 CPD cycle?
The 2016 cycle will run from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2016. There is no carry over of hours from one cycle to the next. Verification of compliance with the CPD regulations and scheme continues to be tied to your annual practising certificate application.
Minimum 2016 CPD requirement?
Solicitors to whom the regulations apply are required to complete a minimum of 18 hours’ CPD during 2016, which must comprise the minimum requirements in both management and professional development skills and regulatory matters.
The 2015 regulations introduce a new requirement for a solicitor (including a senior practitioner) who is a ‘sole practitioner’ or a ‘compliance partner’ and/or an ‘anti-money-laundering compliance partner’ to undertake, as part of their minimum CPD requirement, a minimum of three hours of regulatory matters, of which at least two hours shall be accounting and anti-money-laundering compliance. Such solicitors must also complete a minimum of three hours’ management and professional development skills per CPD cycle.
All other solicitors (those who are not a ‘sole practitioner’ or a ‘compliance partner’ and/or an ‘anti-money-laundering compliance partner’) must undertake a minimum of two hours of regulatory matters and a minimum of three hours’ management and professional development skills.
There is a maximum limit of seven hours’ CPD that may be completed within a single day, and a maximum of 50% of a solicitor’s minimum CPD requirement (modified or otherwise) may be claimed for time spent in relevant e-learning and/or writing relevant material that is published in any one CPD cycle.
Ways of completing CPD
There are three different ways of undertaking the minimum 2016 CPD requirement – that is, by way of group study format and/or by electronic learning and/or writing relevant material that is published.
Group study
Group study means an organised session of CPD undertaken by three or more persons, for a period of not less than 30 minutes. Physical attendance by the solicitor is required. Therefore, the watching of a ‘live feed’ of a conference/seminar/training session may not be claimed as group study (but may be claimed as electronic learning).
E-learning
E-learning is defined 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 provided through:
- The internet or other computer network connections, sound only, sound and vision formats, or a combination of both,
- By the provision of an electronic file, a CD-ROM and/or DVD, and
- Other technologies and formats that may be advised from time to time.
A maximum of 50% of a solicitor’s minimum CPD requirement (modified or otherwise) may be claimed for time spent in relevant e-learning.
Accordingly, a solicitor who practises on a full-time basis may claim a maximum of 50% of the minimum annual CPD requirement (that is, a maximum of nine hours’ CPD during the 2016 cycle).
If a solicitor has a modified CPD requirement, (s)he may complete up to a maximum of 50% of his/her modified CPD requirement via electronic learning. For example, a solicitor with a modified 2016 CPD requirement of nine hours’ CPD may complete a maximum of 4.5 hours CPD via e-learning during the 2016 cycle.
A senior practitioner may complete a maximum of 1.5 hours CPD (being 50% of the modified CPD requirement for a senior practitioner) by e-learning during 2016.
Publishing
Written relevant material that is published in a legal periodical or textbook may count for CPD. Solicitors should also note that reference to legal periodical also includes those published in printed from and/or online.
A maximum of 50% of a solicitor’s minimum CPD requirement (modified or otherwise) may be claimed for time spent writing a relevant article or section of a legal periodical or textbook.
Therefore, if a solicitor practises on a full-time basis, (s)he may claim a maximum of 50% of the minimum annual CPD requirement (that is, a maximum of nine hours’ CPD during the 2016 cycle).
If a solicitor has a modified CPD requirement, (s)he may complete up to a maximum of 50% of his/her modified CPD requirement for time spent writing relevant material. For example, a solicitor with a modified 2016 CPD requirement of nine hours’ CPD may complete a maximum of 4.5 hours CPD for time spent writing relevant material during the 2016 cycle.
A senior practitioner may claim a maximum of 1.5 hours CPD (being 50% of the modified CPD requirement for a senior practitioner) for time spent writing relevant material during 2016.
Modification of minimum requirement
The scheme continues to allow for modifications of the minimum CPD requirement, and the current scheme booklet details the particular circumstances in which the minimum CPD requirement may be reduced, such as:
- A senior practitioner,
- Maternity/parental/carers/adoptive leave,
- Illness/retirement/unemployment/substantive reasons cases,
- Part-time practice, and
- Part-year practice.
Solicitors should note that the minimum CPD requirement may not be modified to less than two hours of regulatory matters in each CPD cycle. However, if a solicitor (including a senior practitioner) is a sole practitioner or a compliance partner and/or an anti-money-laundering compliance partner, (s)he will be required to undertake, as all or part of his/her modified CPD obligations during each CPD cycle, at least three hours of regulatory matters, of which at least two hours shall be accounting and anti-money-laundering compliance.
Automatic audit
Solicitors should note that, in the event of a failure to comply with annual CPD requirements, they will be automatically required to provide proof of compliance with their CPD obligations for a period of two years, in addition to the cycle in which they failed to comply.
Other changes
Solicitors attending meetings of committees and/or working groups of the Society, or other law-related professional bodies, or performing adjudicative functions, are permitted to claim up to a maximum of seven hours’ CPD (in any category).
The CPD regulations enable the Society to require payment of a sum not exceeding €300 by way of contribution towards costs in situations where a solicitor has refused, neglected, or otherwise failed to respond appropriately in a timely manner, or at all, to the Society’s correspondence in the course of an investigation as to compliance with the CPD regulations.
Clarification on all aspects of the scheme and detailed explanations of the available modifications are provided in the current scheme booklet.
Solicitors should also note that the CPD record card is available as a PDF to download from the Society’s website. Solicitors can download and save the record card, and make changes to it electronically as required, in order that they may record all of their CPD hours in one convenient and central place. The idea is to assist solicitors keep track of their CPD hours on an ongoing basis, thus saving valuable time and energy at the end of the CPD cycle. Alternatively, solicitors can print out the record card as usual and fill it in by hand.
For information on CPD requirements in 2015, 2016 and 2017, download the summary of changes introduced by 2016 CPD Regulations.
Further details may also be obtained by contacting the CPD Scheme Unit on tel: 01 672 4802, email: cpdscheme@lawsociety.ie.
Valerie Peart, chair, Education Committee