A National CPD Taskforce was formed in November 2005 at the suggestion of the Queensland Law Society to consider whether national guidelines should be developed to identify areas where harmonisation of the various schemes might be achieved. The Taskforce agreed that it was necessary to minimise the differences between schemes where ever possible, not only for consistency with the spirit of national reform but also because of the real hardships, costs and inconveniences that flow from the differences between the schemes.

In August 2006 the Taskforce produced a draft set of CPD Guidelines. The Guidelines were presented and discussed at last November's CORO Conference in Sydney and they have now been sent to all of the Bar Associations and Law Societies in Australia for comment and hopefully implementation.

The Councils of the Law Societies of NSW and Queensland as well as the Legal Practice Board in Victoria have all recently met to consider the Guidelines and each has agreed to adopt them by 1 April 2009.  

Click here to access the National Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Guidelines