Practical legal training requirements

For the legislative provisions relating to practical legal training (PLT) please refer to section 17 of the Legal Profession Uniform Law (WA) and the Legal Profession Uniform Admission Rules 2015.

You cannot commence practical legal training in Western Australia until you have completed the academic requirements for admission.

If you have completed all the requirements for the award of your law degree and have only one or more electives to complete, you may be able to apply for written approval to commence PLT before the completion of your academic qualification.

Refer to the guidelines below outlining the circumstances under which early commencement of PLT will be approved and detailing the manner in which an application for approval may be made.

Approved practical legal training in Western Australia is completion of:

  1. the WA College of Law PLT Course OR
  2. the Leo Cussen Centre for Law WA PLT Course OR
  3. the Piddington Society Inc. PLT Course OR
  4. Curtin University Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice.

A law graduate completing a PLT course may not use the title “articled clerk”. You may only use the title of “articled clerk” if you are formally registered with the Board as an articled clerk.

On completion of one of the above PLT courses you will be eligible for admission. You must apply for admission at least 2 months before the anticipated ceremony date. Refer to information on the formal process of applying for admission

A person who has completed a PLT course in another Australian jurisdiction may apply for admission in Western Australia. The PLT course will be accepted as specified practical legal training if it meets admission requirements in the Australian state or territory in which it was completed.

Overseas qualified or admitted applicants should refer to their assessment statement for information about their PLT requirements.

Application for accreditation and re-accreditation as a practical legal training provider

Practical legal training providers are required, under Legal Profession Uniform Admission Rules 2015 [Rules 7 and 8], to apply to the Legal Practice Board of Western Australia for accreditation to provide approved practical legal training for persons in the process of becoming legal practitioners. And, after a period of 5 years, to apply for re-accreditation.

Applications for accreditation and re-accreditation as a practical legal training provider must be made on LPB Form 21.

Having completed all sections of this application and attached the required information referred to in Section D; the application should be sent by email to enquiries@lpbwa.com marked “Attention: PLT Provider”. Attached documents referred to in (e) and (d) will be made available on submission to the Board.

Guidelines of the Admissions and Registration Committee

Circumstances under which law students will be approved to commence practical legal training before the completion of an approved academic qualification

Law students are advised that a prospective applicant for admission must complete an approved academic qualification before commencing approved practical legal training (PLT), unless the early commencement has been approved by the Board under these Guidelines. 

It is likely that a person who commenced PLT before completing an approved academic qualification will not be eligible to apply for admission in Western Australia, unless the person has written approval from the Legal Practice Board (Board) for the early commencement of PLT. 

The Board will consider giving approval for the early commencement of PLT only if the person meets the criteria for the early commencement of PLT set out in the PLT Competency Standards for Entry Level Lawyers effective from 1 January 2015 (Revised October 2017), as set out below, and published on the website of the Law Admission Consultative Committee.

Criteria for the early commencement of PLT set out in the Competency Standards 

The Competency Standards contain the following provision: 

3.2 When PLT may be commenced 

  1. An applicant may commence PLT: 
    1. in the case of SWT, only after the applicant has completed an academic qualification in law, leading to admission to the legal profession
    2. in the case of a PLT course that is not integrated with the applicant's academic qualification in law, only after the applicant has completed an academic qualification in law leading to admission to the legal profession, unless the applicant has no more than two academic subjects to complete: 
      1. neither of which is one of the Academic Requirements for admission
      2. for which the applicant must be enrolled while undertaking the PLT course, and the applicant has received the prior permission of the Admitting Authority to commence the PLT course. 
The form of an application 

An application for approval to commence PLT before completion of an approved academic qualification must be made in the form of a signed statutory declaration, the original of which must be posted to the Board. 

The statutory declaration should include:

  1. the name of the relevant University and the degree course in which you are enrolled
  2. confirmation that you have successfully completed all of the units covering the 11 required subjects for admission
  3. confirmation that you only have one or two electives to complete, and details of the those unit/s including confirmation of enrolment and confirmation of expected completion dates
  4. details of the approved practical legal training course that you intend to complete and the proposed commencement and anticipated completion dates. 

The applicant should request the university to email an academic transcript or statement of academic record showing the units completed to date and the subjects in which you are presently enrolled, to admissions@lpbwa.com

An original academic transcript will be accepted, but a transcript received directly from the university is preferred. 

If you have received advanced standing towards completion of any of the units covering the 11 prescribed academic subjects for admission, please arrange for the Board to receive a transcript directly from the relevant institution or an original academic transcript, showing the study on which the advanced standing was based.