Lawyers: qualifications
1. Academic qualifications
People wanting to practise law must complete an approved course. In Victoria, these are the Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and the Juris Doctor degree (JD), both of which include 11 compulsory subjects.
2. Practical legal training
Before a law graduate can be admitted to practise law, they need to complete practical legal training. They can meet this requirement by completing either 12 months of supervised workplace training or a practical legal training course.
More information is available on the Victorian Legal Admissions Board website (www. lawadmissions.vic.gov.au).
3. Practising certificates
After being admitted to practise law, all lawyers must hold a current practising certificate and professional indemnity insurance to lawfully provide legal services. The first practising certificate of a newly-admitted lawyer will have a ‘supervised legal practice condition’. This means their work must be supervised for a period of time by another lawyer who is fully qualified and who has an unrestricted practising certificate. At the end of this period, a lawyer can apply to the VLSB+C to have the supervision condition removed from their certificate. If approved, the lawyer can then work unsupervised.
