Upon completion of your degree, in order to be eligible for admission to practice law, it is necessary to complete Practical Legal Training (PLT)
PLT is a structured training program that will develop your practical skills and proficiency in the day-to-day practice of law. It is usually undertaken at the completion of your law degree and is an essential requirement for admission as a lawyer in Australia. Successful completion of a PLT program leads to the award of a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice (GDLP), which makes you eligible to apply for admission as a legal practitioner in your jurisdiction.
In New South Wales the PLT requirements include both structured and supervised training and workplace experience. The training includes:
Lawyer's Skills
Problem Solving
Work Management and Business Skills
Trust and Office Accounting
Civil Litigation Practice
Commercial and Corporate Practice
Property Law Practice
Ethics and Professional Responsibility
Two of the following electives:
Administrative Law Practice
Banking and Finance
Criminal Law Practice
Consumer Law Practice
Employment and Industrial Relations Practice
Family Law Practice
Planning and Environmental Practice
Wills and Estates Practice
The training takes approximately three months full-time or eight months part-time. Workplace experience requires around 75 working days (15 weeks) of supervised experience in the delivery of legal services.
Some universities incorporate PLT into the course requirements of your degree but if your university course does not offer this then you must attend a different organisation. PLT provides include:
