CPD — Invest in yourself

As we move into the second half of the CPD year, it’s a good time to reflect and think about your development and learning goals for the next five months. Don’t put this off until the new year and be caught out in a last-minute compliance rush. With some simple forward planning, you can better target topics that are relevant to your role, more nuanced to your level of experience and that will maximise your learning outcomes. Here are five tips to get you started:

Take the time to step back and reflect on your role, goals and development needs. What additional skills and knowledge would assist you to do your job and enhance your performance and client service?

Developing your technical skills and keeping up to date with changes in the law and practice are obviously critical, but don’t forget about the importance of honing the application of your ethical and professional obligations in your practice and ‘soft skills’ such as effective supervision, delegation, communication, resilience, and leadership. Developing skills in project management, technology and managing cyber risk will also help you be at the top of your game.

Once you have identified some key areas of focus, research available resources and programs.

The Law Institute Victoria (LIV) and various legal education service providers offer a wide range of live and on-demand webinars, seminars, conferences, and e-learning courses. Many universities, the College of Law and Leo Cussons also provide a range of post graduate courses in specialist areas, which are targeted to practising lawyers and are run as single subjects over a short period, without the need to enrol in a formal degree.

If you can’t find what you need, consider engaging an accredited specialist, barrister or other thought leader to present or run bespoke workshops for your firm on topics of interest. Reaching out to your professional networks, searching online and reading relevant articles are great ways to start finding the right specialist. LPLC’s podcast series More than Knowing the Law[1] covers common key areas of focus for practitioners like supervision, communication and cyber security and may be a good starting point for understanding your firm’s needs as well as identifying experts in these fields.

[1] Reframing supervision as the greatest compliment, LPLC and Anna Hinder: 21 January 2022; When saying no is right – navigating difficult conversations, LPLC and Deb Assheton, 7 April 2022; Cyber Security – Not just a technology risk, LPLC and Susie Jones: 15 October 2021

Write down a list of the learning and development opportunities you plan to commit to.

Check that you have covered the minimum CPD compliance obligations across the four areas of ethics and professional responsibility; practice management and business skills; professional skills; and substantive law. The Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner (LSBC) has guidelines to help with this task which you can access on their website.

Think about how you keep up to date with changes to the law as well as the relevant processes and procedures required to do the work. For example, practising in litigation requires up to the minute knowledge of case law, legislation, civil procedure, practice notes, notices, and e-filing procedures of the various courts and tribunals. Could you improve or streamline how you obtain and monitor this information?

Law Library Victoria has a helpful guide that outlines free legal alert services. Many websites allow you to subscribe to email alerts or RSS feeds to inform you of legal developments. Also consider whether you might benefit from a subscription to online legal news and information providers that will send curated content and newsletters specific to your practice area and needs direct to your inbox. You also need to stay on top of sector developments relevant to your practice and clients. Alerts in this area will provide you with the insights you need to stay ahead of the complex issues affecting your clients and give context to understand the practical implications of any law changes.

Take the time to build networks with supportive colleagues. This will provide you with further development and learning opportunities as well as a forum to discuss risk management and other issues affecting your practice. Building networks also has the added benefit of building your profile, reputation and may potentially lead to work referrals.

For more on CPD and training from LPLC, see our Events & Education pages.