Frequently Asked Questions about the CPD Requirement

Lawyers and paralegals in the 100% fee-paying category are required to fulfill the CPD Requirement. Lawyers and paralegals who are in other fee categories are also required to fulfill the CPD Requirement if they practise law or provide legal services, if they provide legal services on a pro bono basis only, or if they are practising Life Members. 

See Fee Categories for more information.

Effective January 1, 2018, licensees who are subject to the CPD Requirement are required to complete the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) CPD Requirement. See Frequently Asked Questions about the CPD EDI Requirement for more information about this aspect of the CPD Requirement.

Under the Law Society’s CPD Requirement, lawyers and paralegals are required to complete at least 12 CPD Hours every calendar year. These CPD Hours consist of a minimum of 3 Professionalism Hours and up to 9 Substantive Hours.

Between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2020, lawyers and paralegals are required to complete a total of 3 Professionalism Hours that focus on advancing equality, diversity and inclusion in the lawyer and paralegal professions. Each year thereafter, lawyers and paralegals must complete 1 Professionalism Hour that addresses issues of equality, diversity and inclusion. These hours count towards the 3 Professionalism Hours required each year. See  Frequently Asked Questions about the CPD EDI Requirement for more information about this aspect of the CPD Requirement.

Only programs and activities for Professionalism Hours (including EDI Professionalism Hours) must be accredited by the Law Society. Substantive Hours do not have to be accredited and may address substantive or procedural law topics and/or related skills.

See CPD Accreditation Process for more information.

Accredited programs containing Professionalism Hours can be identified by the following logos, which will appear on program brochures and materials. 

For information on the use of the logos, please reference the Communication Guidelines for Providers. The Law Society offers a number of accredited professionalism programs at a nominal cost to lawyers and paralegals. Please see CPD Calendar for more information about Law Society's CPD programs.

CPD programs are formal, instruction-based sessions. They are usually offered by organizations such as education providers, law associations, law firms, government associations and industry groups. CPD activities include a broad range of other, non-program learning methods such as teaching, writing, mentoring and participation in study groups of 2 or more colleagues. See Eligible Educational Activities for more information.

Note that CPD Programs and CPD activities must be accredited by the Law Society if the lawyer or paralegal is seeking to count them as part of their Professionalism Hours. See CPD Accreditation Process for more information. 

Participation in "interactive" CPD programs and courses such as "real time" on-line courses, streaming video, and live web and/or telephone conferences are eligible if there is an opportunity to ask and/or answer questions with colleagues and/or instructors. Lawyers and paralegals may view previously recorded programs with at least one other colleague to satisfy the interactivity requirement. There is no annual maximum for these methods of viewing programs.

Viewing archived webcasts, video replays, or other recorded program formats without a colleague are eligible educational activities for up to 6 hours per year.

No, a lawyer or paralegal who completes more than 12 hours of eligible CPD activities in a year is not entitled to carry over the balance into the next year.

Lawyers and paralegals can edit or delete any entry for a professionalism program, substantive program or activity using the self-edit function.

Lawyers and paralegals who resume practising law or providing legal services within the reporting year must complete 1 hour of CPD for each month or partial month of practice or provision of legal services. CPD hours can be completed at any time during the open reporting period. There is no requirement to complete these prorated hours after returning to practice or to the provision of legal services.

Yes, as long as the program or activity is an eligible educational activity for the CPD Requirement. See  Eligible Educational Activities.

Yes, teaching is eligible to a maximum of 6 hours per year. Actual teaching time will be multiplied by a factor of 3 to reflect preparation time. For example, 30 minutes of teaching will be equal to 1 hour and 30 minutes of CPD. The teaching content must be law-related and within the CPD definition. There is no limitation on the type of audience. If the same content is taught more than once in a calendar year, CPD credit is only available for the first delivery of that content. Teaching is an eligible activity only if it is undertaken on a volunteer or part-time teaching basis. Teaching as part of full-time or regular employment will not be eligible.

Chairing a program may be eligible, provided the chair does more than introduce speakers. The Chair must act as a facilitator of the program for it to be eligible.

Acting as a judge or coach in a mooting competition is an eligible educational activity.

In order to qualify for Professionalism Hours, teaching activities must address topics of professional responsibility, ethics, practice management and/or equality, diversity and inclusion and be accredited by the Law Society. See CPD Accreditation Process for more information.

If presenting the information session or writing/editing client bulletins is primarily a "teaching" rather than a "pitching" activity, and enables the lawyer or paralegal to fulfill the definition of CPD, which requires that the activity maintain or enhance a lawyer's professional knowledge, skills, attitudes and ethics, then it is an eligible activity. If the educational content of the activity is minimal or basic, or if it is repeated with modest changes to a number of audiences, it is not eligible.

Yes, writing and editing books, articles with or without a co-author is eligible to a maximum of 6 hours per year. The book or article must be intended for publication by a third party, or included as part of an in-house or firm publication, rather than for personal use. Editing legal texts or case reports and preparing case headnotes, with the same restrictions as set out for writing, are also eligible activities. There is no limitation on the audience for whom the work is written.

Only volunteer or part-time writing is eligible. Writing as part of full-time or regular employment is not eligible.

In order to qualify for Professionalism Hours, writing and/or editing activities must address topics of professional responsibility, ethics, practice management and/or equality, diversity and inclusion and be accredited by the Law Society. See CPD Accreditation Process for more information.

Yes, mentoring activities are eligible to an annual maximum of 12 hours.  Eligible mentoring activities include mentoring, being mentored, providing coach or advisor support, participating in a coach or advisor program, acting as an articling principal, or supervising an LPP work placement or paralegal field placement. For more information see  Eligible Educational Activities.  

In order to qualify for Professionalism Hours, mentoring activities must address topics of professional responsibility, ethics, practice management and/or equality, diversity and inclusion and be accredited by the Law Society. See CPD Accreditation Process for more information.

Yes, study groups are eligible and have no annual maximum. This will include attendance at a group session of 2 or more lawyers or paralegals that is organized for the purpose of discussing content that falls within the CPD definition. Study group participants may be lawyers or paralegals from a variety of settings — sole and small firm colleagues in the same community or lawyers and paralegals in the same firm, legal department, government agency, or clinic. Live, in-person participation, in addition to telephone conference, web conference (e.g., Skype, Google Chat) or videoconference are all acceptable delivery methods, as long as attendees can interact with one another in real time. File or matter- specific discussion is not eligible. Lawyers or paralegals who facilitate or instruct study group sessions may claim up to 3 hours of credit for every 1 hour session to reflect preparation time.

In order to qualify for Professionalism Hours, study group activities must cover topics of professional responsibility, ethics, practice management and/or equality, diversity and inclusion and be accredited by the Law Society. See CPD Accreditation Process for more information.

The Law Society has additional resources to assist lawyers and paralegals in obtaining CPD Hours through study groups. See Professionalism Case Studies for more information.

Where lawyers or paralegals attend meetings that involve both business related to the association and an educational session dealing with substantive, procedural law or professionalism content that comes within the CPD definition, only the hours devoted to the educational session are eligible.

Self-study is not eligible for CPD Hours. Self-study is defined as reading or reviewing material on one's own without some form of interaction with colleagues and/or instructors through live Q&A sessions, simultaneous discussion, real time chat or embedded learning prompts. Lawyers and paralegals will continue to report annually on the Lawyer Annual Report and Paralegal Annual Report, respectively, the number of self-study hours they complete. The minimum expectation for self-study hours remains at 50 hours. The number of self-study hours is not mandatory, but reporting is. Reporting of self-study hours is not part of the CPD Requirement.

Certified Specialists have the same requirement as other members. They are required to obtain a total of 12 CPD Hours per calendar year, which must include a minimum of 3 Professionalism Hours and 9 Substantive Hours.

This type of information exchange is not eligible as it does not involve sustained interaction and learning by participants.

Please see the February 2010 Joint Report to Convocation (PDF) for background information about the CPD Requirement.

Click here for information about changes to the CPD Requirement made by Convocation on April 26, 2012.

Click here for information about the changes to the Mentoring CPD activity made by Convocation on January 26, 2016.

Click here for information about the new EDI CPD Requirement approved by Convocation on September 28, 2017.