ARTICLES OF CLERKSHIP

Amendment of Legal Practice Board Rules 2004
Articles Training Programme – Changes to Content and Structure

The Legal Practice Board Rules 2004 (the Rules) have been amended, as gazetted on 1 December 2006, to introduce changes to the practical legal training of Articled Clerks in Western Australia. Detailed information and new forms are contained in the Articles of Clerkship Guidelines.

The changes are summarized as follows:

  • The 4 week Core Course conducted by the Articles Training Programme (ATP) has been designed to teach and assess the Elements described in the Skills, Practice Areas and Values set out in the “Competency Standards for Entry Level Lawyers” (Competency Standards). The Competency Standards are set out in Appendix B to the “Uniform Admission Rules” (UAR).

  • To enable Clerks to meet the threshold level described in the Competency Standards, Clerks are required to complete two Optional Subjects, namely, “Commercial and Corporate Law Practice” and “Property Law Practice”. The Optional Subjects may be completed by either –

    1. the ATP course in each subject; OR
    2. practical legal training in each subject to the standard required by the UAR, provided to an Articled Clerk by or on behalf of his or her principal.

  • When applying for registration of articles of clerkship, an “Undertaking as to Practical Legal Training” (a new prescribed form) must be lodged with the Board, specifying whether the Applicant will complete the Optional Subject/s via (a) or (b), as referred to above.

  • Each legal practitioner with whom a Clerk has served articles must provide (shortly prior to the Clerk’s admission, or earlier in the case of Clerks who assign or cancel articles) a "Certificate of Completion of Articles” (a new prescribed form). A principal who undertook to provide training in the Optional Subject/s must certify that his or her Articled Clerk has completed training (provided by or on behalf of the principal) and has attained (in his or her opinion) the standard required by the UAR.

Notwithstanding that it was initially anticipated that the Rules would be amended and apply to all Deed of Articles (Deeds) dated on or after 1 November 2006, the changes referred to above will now apply to all Deeds dated on or after 1 December 2006.

 

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