Solicitors (Continuing Professional Development) Regulations, 2007

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR SI 807/2007
• Year: 2007

S.I. No. 807 of 2007

SOLICITORS (CONTINUING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT) REGULATIONS 2007

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 14th December, 2007.

The Law Society of Ireland in exercise of the powers conferred on it by sections 5 and 40 (as amended by section 49 of the Solicitors (Amendment) Act 1994 ) of the Solicitors Act1954 and with the concurrence of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform hereby make the following Regulations:

Citation and commencement

1. (a) These Regulations may be cited as the Solicitors (Continuing Professional Development) Regulations 2007.

(b) These Regulations shall come into operation on the first day of January 2008 and thenceforth, subject to sub-clause (c) of this Regulation, the Solicitors (Continuing Professional Development) Regulations 2003 ( S.I. No. 37 of 2003 ) (“the 2003 Regulations”) shall stand revoked.

(c) The 2003 Regulations shall—

(i) in respect of an application to the Society by a solicitor for a practising certificate for all or any part of the practice year commencing on the first day of January 2008, insofar as relates to the requirements of the 2003 Regulations to undertake at least twenty hours of continuing professional development during the period commencing on the first day of January 2006 and ending on the thirty- first day of December 2007, and/or

(ii) in respect of any solicitor who prior to the date of coming into operation of these Regulations has become the subject matter of an investigation by the Education Committee or an inquiry by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal which is continuing as of the thirty-first day of December 2007 as to the alleged breach of the requirements of the 2003 Regulations to undertake at least twenty hours of continuing professional development during the period commencing on the first day of July 2003 and ending on the thirty-first day of December 2005

remain in full force and effect.

Definitions

2. (a) In these Regulations:—

“Act” means the Solicitors Act, 1954 (No. 36 of 1954);

“Act of 1960” means the Solicitors (Amendment) Act 1960 (No. 37 of 1960);

“Act of 1994” means the Solicitors (Amendment) Act 1994 (No. 27 of 1994);

“Act of 2002” means the Solicitors (Amendment) Act 2002 (No. 19 of 2002);

“Acts” means the Solicitors Acts 1954 to 2002;

“continuing professional development” means the provision of further education or training (or both) to a solicitor, whether relating to law or to management and professional skills, intended to develop the solicitor in his or her professional knowledge, skills and abilities; and may be referred to in common usage as “CPD”;

“Council” means the Council of the Society;

“e-learning” means the provision of education or training (or both) that is generated, communicated, processed, sent, received, recorded, stored and/or displayed by electronic means or in electronic form, and includes education or training (or both) provided through:

(i) the internet or other computer network connections, sound only or sound and vision formats, or a combination thereof;

(ii) the provision of an electronic file, a CD-Rom and/or a DVD;

(iii) other technologies or formats.

“Education Committee” means the education committee appointed annually by the Council;

“electronic” includes electrical, digital, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, biometric, photonic and any other form of related technology;

“first cycle” means the period from the first day of January 2008 until the thirty-first day of December 2008;

“group study” means an organised session of continuing professional development undertaken in a group of three or more persons that lasts for a period of not less than thirty minutes, whether undertaken by means of lecture, workshop, seminar, tutorial, video-conferenced lecture/tutorial or diploma or certificate course;

“management and professional skills” includes any one or more of, or a combination of, the following:—

(i) financial and business management,

(ii) human resources management,

(iii) budget control,

(iv) practise management skills,

(v) computer skills,

(vi) Irish or English language enhancement as it relates to the practice of law,

(vii) foreign language enhancement as it relates to the practice of law,

(viii) professional ethics,

(ix) advocacy,

(x) client care;

“Regulation” means a regulation in these Regulations;

“Roll” means the roll of solicitors maintained by the Society pursuant to section 9 (as substituted by section 65 of the Act of 1994) of the Act;

“Scheme” means the scheme of continuing professional development of the Society as provided for in Regulation 5(a) and as approved from time to time by the Education Committee;

“second cycle” means the period from the first day of January 2009 until the thirty-first day of December 2009;

“Society” means the Law Society of Ireland;

“solicitor” means a person who has been admitted to the Roll;

“third cycle” means the period from the first day of January 2010 until the thirty-first day of December 2010;

(b) Other words and phrases in these Regulations shall, where applicable, have the meanings assigned to them by the Acts.

(c) In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires, the singular includes the plural.

(d) The Interpretation Act 2005 shall apply for the purpose of the interpretation of these Regulations as it applies for the purposes of the interpretation of an Act of the Oireachtas, except insofar as it may be inconsistent with the provisions of the Acts or these Regulations.

To whom these regulations apply

3. These Regulations shall apply to:

(a) a solicitor in the full-time service of the State; and

(b) a solicitor who is entitled to make application, and makes application, to the Society...