SRA Handbook

Requirements for new solicitors/RELs

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Version 4 of the Handbook was published on 21/06/2012. For more information, please click 'History' Above

Part 3: Requirements for new solicitors/RELs

Regulation 4: CPD requirement during the first three years of admission

4.1

If you are a solicitor, in the first three CPD years following admission you must attend the SRA Management Course Stage 1.

4.2

A minimum of three topics must be covered on the SRA Management Course Stage 1 from the list below:

(a)

Managing finance;

(b)

Managing the firm;

(c)

Managing client relationships;

(d)

Managing information;

(e)

Managing people.

4.3

If you are an REL, you are not required to attend the SRA Management Course Stage 1.

4.4

You can make a written request to us for exemption from the SRA Management Course Stage 1 if you have, within the last five years:

(a)

gained significant experience of a solicitor's practice and of management issues as they arise in practice (and can provide examples of experience gained in at least three of the five topic areas of the course); or

(b)

attended a similar course, covering the same ground.

4.5

If you qualified by undertaking the QLTT you are also required to attend the Financial and Business Skills (but not required to attempt or pass the examination) and the Client Care and Professional Standards modules of the PSC during your first CPD year.

4.6

You are exempt from the requirement in regulation 4.5 to attend the two PSC modules if you:

(a)

undertook the LPC and PSC prior to admission;

(b)

sat the Professional Conduct and Accounts heads of the QLTT; or

(c)

are transferring from Scotland via the QLTT.

4.7

Regulations 4.5 and 4.6 do not apply to those qualifying via the QLTSR.

Guidance note:

(i)

The SRA Management Course Stage 1 is a course that requires at least seven hours' attendance. It can be completed in a single day or be undertaken on a modular basis, but it has to be completed in full before claiming CPD hours.

(ii)

In addition to the compulsory SRA Management Course Stage 1, there is an optional five hour course, the SRA Management Course Stage 2.

(iii)

Full guidance on both courses is available.

Regulation 5: CPD requirement during the first months after admission

5.1

You must undertake one hour of CPD for each whole month in legal practice or employment between your admission and the start of the next full CPD year.

Regulation 6: CPD requirement during the first months after registration with the SRA pursuant to the Establishment Directive

6.1

If you are an REL, you must undertake one hour of CPD for each whole month in legal practice or employment between the date of initial registration and the start of the next full CPD year.

Guidance note:

(i)

If your admission date or date of initial registration is 1 November, you will automatically enter into your first full CPD year and be required to complete 16 hours of CPD. This also applies in those years where 1 November falls at the weekend and you are admitted or initially registered the following week.

Regulation 7: Part-time employment

7.1

Notwithstanding regulations 7.2 and 7.3 and regulation 16, if you work part-time in legal practice or employment, your CPD requirements are reduced such that you must complete one hour of CPD each year for every two hours worked per week.

7.2

If you work part-time in a newly admitted or newly registered period, regulations 5 and 6 apply to the period worked between your admission or registration and the start of the next full CPD year.

7.3

If you work an average of fewer than two hours per week, you are permitted to suspend the CPD requirements.

7.4

Details of part-time working hours, with starting and finishing dates, should be entered in your CPD training record.

Guidance note:

(i)

For example, a solicitor working 10 hours per week must complete five hours of CPD each year.

(ii)

It may be necessary for you to keep a record of hours worked to enable you to calculate the average number of hours worked per week over the course of a year.

(iii)

If you work a variable number of hours each week you should calculate the average number of hours worked per week during the CPD year, and then halve this amount to calculate your CPD requirement for the year.

(iv)

For example, a solicitor who works an average of seven hours per week has an annual CPD requirement of three and a half hours.

(v)

Part hours worked should be rounded to the nearest whole hour.