Lawyer (Solicitor)

First, access the Uniform Principles for Assessing Qualifications of Overseas Applicants for Admission to the Australian Legal Profession, and the Guide for Applicants documents via the buttons below. These contain relevant information for the process of getting your qualifications and skills accessed, specifically see Section 5 in the Guide for Applicants for information regarding assessment of academic studies.

As stated in Section 5, as an overseas qualified lawyer, you will need to have your qualifications assessed by LPAB's Academic Exemptions Sub-Committee. The subjects you completed in your degree must include the following areas of study;

• Administrative Law,
• Civil Dispute Resolution,
• Contracts,
• Company Law,
• Criminal law and procedure,
• Equity (including Trusts),
• Ethics and Professional Responsibility,
• Evidence,
• Federal and State Constitutional Law,
• Property (including Torrens System Land),
• and Torts.

The content of each subject must be substantially equivalent to that described in Schedule 1 of the Uniform Principles for Assessing Qualifications of Overseas Applicants for Admission to the Australian Legal Profession.

For the assessment, you will need to provide:

• evidence of your studies in the form of original academic transcript(s), and
• details of any experience in practising the law (a copy of your up-to-date Curriculum Vitae)
• and pay the prescribed fee online.

You can access all necessary forms via the Assessment Forms button below. To complete all applications, including qualifications and PLT assessments and admissions applications, you will need to create an account in the Admissions Portal (ADMIT). Follow the button below to be taken to the access page.

Assessment of Overseas Qualifications & Skills

Admissions Portal

Guide for Applicants

Principles for assessing qualifications

If you completed PLT for admission and have been admitted in a foreign jurisdiction (outside Australia), you will need to apply to the LPAB's Practical Training Exemptions Sub-Committee, for an assessment of your training and experience against the PLT prerequisite. This involves an assessment of whether such training and experience has provided you with competence in each element of the Skills, Practice Areas and Values that are set out in Schedule 2 of the Legal Profession Uniform Admission Rules 2015. Access this via the button below.

For the assessment, you will need to provide;

• indication of the exemptions you are seeking from the Skills, Practice Areas and Values listed in Schedule 2 of the Legal Profession Uniform Admission Rules 2015
• evidence of your copmletion of PLT
• any experience in practising the law which is relevant to the exemptions you are seeking (or other non-practising experience which may be relevant)
  - when describing your experience, please limit your description to no more than 1 page for each Skill, Practice Area or Value from which you are seeking an exemption
• pay the prescribed fee in the online admission portal.

This application is considered at Sub-Committee meetings and is therefore subject to deadlines throughout the year. See the Assessment of Qualifications and Skills page via the button above.

If your PLT is insufficient, you may be required to complete workplace competencies to gain the requisites of PLT required for admission to the profession.

*See section 7 of the Uniform Principles document for information regarding assessment of PLT.

Legal Profession Uniform Admission Rules 2015

To apply for admission as a lawyer in NSW, you need to complete the process in the ADMIT portal and lodge an Application for admission as a lawyer in NSW (L1) form and provide;

• assessment outcomes,
• disclose any matter which may affect the Board’s assessment of whether you are a fit and proper person to be admitted to the Australian legal profession,
• sign the consent for the LPAB to arrange a compulsory National Police History Check of any police history information about you in Australia,
• sign the consent for the LPAB to obtain student conduct reports about you directly from any tertiary institution or practical legal training provider which you have attended,
• using the specified template, obtain two character references that have been made by way of statutory declaration and have been signed in the presence of an authorized witness,
• provide any other documentary evidence specified according to your particular circumstances, such as if you are disclosing a matter relating to 4) above,
• and pay the application fee.

If your application is approved, you must also take an Oath of Office (or make an Affirmation of Office) during a ceremony held at the Supreme Court at Sydney, and then sign the Supreme Court Roll at the conclusion of the ceremony. You must attend this ceremony within 12 months of being granted a compliance certificate.

You will also need to provide evidence of sufficient knowledge of written and spoken English to practice law in Australia. See below under English Language Requirements for further details.

Solicitors: Once you have been admitted to the profession, you will need to get a certificate of practice from the Law Society of New South Wales. There are different types of certificates depending on your circumstances;

Principal of a law practice: The holder is authorised to engage in legal practice as a principal of a law practice* and also as an employee of a law practice, corporate legal practitioner or government legal practitioner and also as a volunteer at a community legal service, or otherwise on a pro bono basis**.

Employee of a law practice: The holder is authorised to engage in legal practice as an employee of a law practice and also as a corporate legal practitioner or government legal practitioner and also as a volunteer at a community legal service, or otherwise on a pro bono basis**.

Corporate legal practitioner: The holder is authorised to engage in legal practice as a corporate legal practitioner or government legal practitioner and also as a volunteer at a community legal service, or otherwise on a pro bono basis**.

Government legal practitioner: The holder is authorised to engage in legal practice as a government legal practitioner or corporate legal practitioner and also as a volunteer at a community legal service, or otherwise on a pro bono basis**.

Volunteer: The holder is authorised to engage in legal practice both as a volunteer at a community legal service and otherwise on a pro bono basis, only**.

Please see the Law Society's website for more information and to access the application process.

Law Society of NSW