How to Make an Application
You must make your application to the Council for a direction about your academic qualifications and practical legal training in the form of an affidavit. A statutory declaration or other type of statement will not be considered by the Council.
A sample affidavit is set out as Form 2 – Affidavit for Overseas Practitioner (pdf 15 KB). Your affidavit must contain information about each of the matters mentioned in that sample.
You must provide original or duly certified copies of your Academic record and the results obtained in any Practical Legal Training Course.
Your must attach to your affidavit sufficient detail about your academic course, your practical legal training and your place of residence during the last two years of your secondary schooling and your academic law course for the Council to be able to decide whether they meet each of the requirements.
If you do not provide sufficient information in an appropriate form about:
1. any prescribed area of knowledge studied in your academic course
2. any area covered in your Practical Legal Training course or other practical experience on which you rely you will be required to undertake further study in that area in Australia. Similarly, if you do not provide sufficient information in an appropriate form for the Council to decide whether you are exempt under item 5.3 of the Uniform Principles, you will be required to undertake the IELTS test and to achieve the prescribed results before you are admitted.
One way of providing sufficient information about your academic qualification is to attach photocopies of the official description of your law course and each of the subjects you have studied, as published by your university, as exhibits to your affidavit. You should also set out the text books used in each subject. Also attach a copy of any official documents setting out the requirements for admission to practise law in your home jurisdiction.
Do not send copies of books or other material that is not immediately relevant to whether or not you have the qualifications. If your application is unnecessarily bulky, it will not be considered and will only be returned to you at your expense.
If you have undertaken a Practical Legal Training course, you may provide comparable information about that course. If you rely on practical competence acquired in your work as a legal practitioner, you will need to explain the nature, quality and duration of the practical experience upon which you rely.
If you think you may be eligible to apply for an exemption from studying one or more of the Competency Standards for Entry-Level Lawyers, you should consider the principles upon which exemptions are commonly granted that are set out in Schedule 4 of the Uniform Principles. If you then wish to apply for an exemption, you must complete an Application for Exemption set out in Form 4 and enclose it with your application to the Council.
Where the sample affidavit requires you to attach copies of transcripts, certificates, letters or other documents, each copy must be accompanied by a certificate executed by an appropriate authority as set out in Form 3 – Certificate Identifying Exhibit (pdf 8 KB).
You must send your application by registered post to:
The Chief Executive Officer
Council of Legal Education and Board of Examiners
Ground Floor
451 Little Bourke Street
Melbourne VIC 3000
AUSTRALIA
All applications for skills assessments must be attached with the corresponding fee of $400 for overseas practitioners applicants by way of either Australian or International bank cheque or money order. Any application received without the corresponding fee will be returned.
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