Learning and Development

CPD: Use Emplaw and Emplaw Monthly for targeted research and keeping your knowledge up to date

CPD requirements for solicitors in England and Wales changed from November 2016 from a requirement to complete a fixed number of hours per year to an approach of beingable to demonstrate continuing competence which requires a solicitor to:

‘consider and undertake the learning and development you deem necessary to ensure your ongoing competence and that you are in a position to provide a proper standard of service to your clients.’

Since 1 November 2014, there was no requirement to undertake mandatory accredited training as part of the CPD requirement and the SRA no longer accepts applications for authorisation from CPD providers.

When did it change?

The new approach was implemented and adopted by all solicitors from 1 November 2016.

What did these requirements mean?

In essence a solicitor must

Reflect on their practice
Identify their learning and development needs
Plan how to address their training needs
Address those needs
Record and evaluate the learning activity

Training records must now be retained for a period of at least six years and the SRA may request to see a person’s CPD training record at any time.

How can Emplaw Help?

Emplaw guides enable targeted research whilst Emplaw Monthly keeps your knowledge up to date.

A subscription to Emplaw not only gives you access to 100s of incisive guides and 1000s of cases, but also you receive a regular email update called Emplaw Monthly, which can be used to support continuing competence and learning.

Emplaw Monthly is a professional publication written by practicing employment lawyers.

The subscription version generally prints out at more than 10 pages and presents a considered and incisive view of the month’s developments including detailed case summaries (with links to full reports) as well as the up to date legislative developments and employment news.

Subscribers have a personal online Learning & development (L&D) page where they record and assess their learning with useful prompts

Subscribers have a personal L & D page (linked at the top of each page just below the emplaw online logo) where, each month, they can create a Learning & Development Record and Evaluation sheet to store and print as required as part of their training record.

Whilst the decision on what training and development a solicitor needs is an assessment for each individual, keeping up to date with the changes in the law and the profession that are relevant to your practice will always be important. We would suggest

Subscribing to Emplaw and referring to it regularly as a research tool, evidence tool and reference point in meetings with both clients and colleagues.
Studying the Emplaw Monthly newsletter as it arrives in your inbox and throughout the month.
taking a few moments to evaluate what you have read including:
any key learning points such as cases or news of interest; and
any actions you will take as a result such as using information in a current case or communicating information to a client.

Cost

An individual annual subscription to Emplaw costs £495 for unlimited access to our data bank of information and 12 editions of Emplaw Monthly. For larger practices we are currently offering discounts on organisational membership so that the firm can be sure that the whole team are up to date. For more information, please contact us as per the details below, stating the number of logins you would be interested in.

Other tools to help

The SRA has a development plan template and development record template at http://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/cpd/tool-kit/resources/templates.page

This is part of a continuing competence tool kit found at https://www.sra.org.uk/solicitors/cpd/tool-kit/continuing-competence-toolkit.page Emplaw Online has also provided material for CPD and continuing competence courses provided by infolaw's Internet for Lawyers online CPD which focus on how lawyers can make best use of the internet.