Admission Requirements
Requirements for Admission to the Legal Profession in Victoria
1. Academic
Persons wishing to be admitted to practice as an Australian lawyer as a local applicant must complete a course of study approved by the Council of Legal Education under Rule 2.04 and complete the 11 prescribed academic areas. The compulsory “Priestley 11” subjects are:
- Criminal law and procedure
- Torts
- Contracts
- Property
- Equity (including Trusts)
- Company Law
- Administrative law
- Federal and State Constitutional law
- Civil procedure
- Evidence
- Ethics and Professional Responsibility
In the State of Victoria, seven universities have been approved by the Council to provide academic law courses:
- The University of Melbourne
- Monash University
- Deakin University
- La Trobe University
- Victoria University
- RMIT University
- Australian Catholic University
- Academic institutions approved by other Australian jurisdictions that provide a course which satisfies the academic requirements for admission in that jurisdiction are also approved academic institutions for the purpose of the Admission Rules. List of Australian Approved Academic Institutions (PDF 20KB).
2. Practical Legal Training
Once a candidate has completed an approved academic course, which includes all 11 Priestley subjects, he/she must complete the Practical Legal Training (PLT) requirements. There are two options for completing PLT:
- Supervised Workplace Training (SWT)
- an approved PLT course
Please note: It is not possible to commence either SWT or a PLT course until an academic course has been completed by the candidate and results have been published indicating all requirements of the course have been passed. It is necessary to graduate in the academic course prior to applying for admission. It is, however, possible to commence PLT prior to graduation as long as the course has been completed.
3. Suitability
It is necessary for a candidate to satisfy the Board of Examiners that he/she is a fit and proper person to be admitted to practise (s.2.3.10 Legal Profession Act 2004). In order to do this applicants are required to provide the following:
- an affidavit of disclosure (Practice Direction No. 2 of 2012 – Disclosure Requirements for Applicants pdf 43 KB)
- two affidavits as to character in the form set out in Schedule 9 of the Rules, each made by an acceptable deponent (Notice No. 1 of 2013 – Character Affidavits pdf 15 KB)
- a criminal record check (Practice Direction No. 1 of 2008 – Police Record Check pdf 14 KB)
- academic conduct reports from each tertiary institution or PLT provider at which the applicant has studied (Practice Direction No. 3 of 2009 – Academic Conduct Reports pdf 15 KB)
CONVEYANCING
Should you wish to become a conveyancer you would need to contact the Business Licensing Authority for further information.
Victorian Consumer & Business Centre
113 Exhibition Street
Melbourne Victoria 3000
Telephone: 1300 135 452
Interpreter services: 13 14 50
Fax: (03) 8684 0600
Email: bla@justice.vic.gov.au
If you wish to join an association once licensed as a conveyancer, you could contact The Australian Institute of Conveyancers (Victorian Division).
PO Box 466
Ringwood 3134
Telephone: (03) 9876 8221
Facsimile: (03) 9876 8443
Email: admin@aicvic.com.au
Admission as an Australian lawyer to the Supreme Court of Victoria is not a prerequisite to becoming a conveyancer.
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