Accreditation Rule

11 June 2019

On 7 June 2019, the Legal Services Council (LSC) made the Legal Profession Uniform Admission Amendment (Accreditation) Rule 2019 (PDF, 146.4 KB), having consulted with all Australian admitting authorities, the Deans of law schools and practical legal training (PLT) providers in New South Wales and Victoria, and the public. The new rule amends rules 3, 4, 7, 8 and Sch 2 cl 4 of the Legal Profession Uniform Admission Rules 2015, relating to the accreditation and reaccreditation of law courses and PLT providers and commenced on 7 June 2019.

The effect of the amendments is to:

• Provide the admitting authorities in New South Wales and Victoria (Boards) with the same powers, whether accrediting or reaccrediting a course or provider;
• Ensure that any monitoring or review of a course or provider is for the purpose of accreditation or reaccreditation; or consideration by the Boards of whether to impose or vary conditions on an accreditation;
• Allow a limited review by the Boards for the purpose of considering whether to impose or vary conditions on an accreditation; and
• Require the Boards to take into account the report of a reviewer when considering the reaccreditation of a course or provider.

These amendments are expected to offer stakeholders clarity regarding the purpose of reviews of courses and providers and certainty that the reports of the reviews will be taken into account by the Boards. Additionally, the amendments allow an interim, shorter and less expensive review of conditions attached to accreditation.

The Standing Committee comprising the Attorneys General of Victoria and New South Wales, in concert with the Attorney General of Western Australia, accepted the LSC's recommendation and agreed to the proposed amendment of the Rules, expressing gratitude to the LSC for its work in ensuring that the Uniform Law continues to reflect modern forms of legal practice, and for responding to stakeholder concerns.