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 Law Society of Yukon

CPD Requirements

Guidelines for Continuing Professional Development

In accordance with Rule 93(1) the Law Society of Yukon establishes the following Guidelines for Continuing Professional Development.

Requirements

Under rule 94, a member must, by December 31 of each year, complete one hour of CPD activities for each full or partial month during the calendar year the member was an active member.

If, after reviewing these Guidelines you are unsure whether an activity fulfills the content or activity requirements of these Guidelines, contact the Law Society.

The Law Society of Yukon does not accredit courses or course providers. These guidelines set out what activities are eligible for CPD credit. If, after reviewing the guidelines, you are unclear as to whether a particular course fits the criteria eligible for CPD credits, please contact our office at 867-668-4231.

Take note that members who completed education requirements of a law society in a comparable jurisdiction in Canada are no longer exempt under the new Rules.

Members who are also called in another jurisdiction must now meet the requirements set out in rule 94 and report their CPD hours under rule 96 by January 31 of the following calendar year. It is no longer sufficient to indicate that you have met the requirements in a comparable jurisdiction.

A Form 16 – CPD Report for the year will be forwarded to you by the Society in early December for you to submit by January 31. Click here to read the FAQ on CPD Reporting.

Exemptions

An active member is not required to complete CPD activities during a calendar year, if during that year:

  • The member completed their articles or the bar admission course of a governing body; or
  • They were an active member for one month or less.

Please note that members with non-practising or retired status who had active practicing status for part of a calendar year must report for that part of the year.

Eligible CPD Activities

Eligible Content

Eligible CPD activities must contain significant substantive or practical content with the primary objective of increasing lawyers’ professional competence.

Eligible CPD activities include content dealing with

  • Substantive law and substantive legal issues
  • Procedural law (including amendments to the Rules, electronic document protocols, or etiquette)
  • Practice of law (including professional ethics, obligations such as trust accounting, professional responsibility, practice standards, etc.)
  • Practice management (including client relations, wellness, time management, practice technology, etc.)
  • Lawyering skills (such as advocacy, drafting, research, communication, etc)
  • Cultural competency training which includes the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Aboriginal rights, Indigenous law and Aboriginal-Crown relations, as outlined in Recommendation #27 of the Truth and Reconciliation Recommendations.

Please Note:  Course content should be designed primarily for lawyers and not for other professions.  Business courses, including leadership skills, project management, marketing skills, profit maximization, etc, as well as content and activities primarily designed for or targeted at attracting clients or prepared and delivered in the ordinary and usual course of practice will not qualify. 

Eligible CPD Delivery Method

The following types of activities are accepted modes of undertaking CPD:

Type Number of Eligible Hours per Year
CPD/CLE or in-person course, presentation or seminar including in-house CPD/CLE’s and educational components of meetings and conferences provided content requirements are met; only the hours in actual attendance at the course, or the educational component of a conference or meeting is considered eligible hours Unlimited
Webinar– including live streamed courses, presentations or seminars, recorded courses, presentations or seminars streamed over the internet, and web-based on-line courses with or without the ability to interact with presenters (including those containing primarily written content) Unlimited
When enrolled in a program, count the number of hours identified by the provider for completion.
Teleconference or phone-based courses, presentations or seminars Unlimited
Teaching
Limitations:  content requirements must be met; presentations to clients do not count towards CPD hours, the hours count for only the 1st presentation (second and subsequent presentations of the same lecture either in the reporting year or in a subsequent year, would not count towards CPD)		 6 hours maximum
(the time teaching may be multiplied by 3 to account for preparation time; i.e. 1 hour of teaching would equal 3 CPD hours to a maximum of 6 hours)
Writing books and articles provided content requirements are met and the purpose is for publication or use in educational programs and not as part of regular employment of member (writing of head notes and case reports may be eligible) 6 hours maximum

Examples of Non-Eligible CPD Activities

  • Self-study, forums and network sites are not eligible to count towards required hours.
  • Mentoring or being a principal to an articled student is not eligible to count towards the required hours.
  • Content and activities relating to marketing or profit maximization or content or activities primarily designed for attracting clients, or prepared and delivered in the ordinary and usual course of practice are not eligible CPD activities.
  • Content and activities undertaken for a client or employment purpose.

Reporting

  • CPD reporting will be done once a year. You will receive a notice and a Form 16 – CPD Report in December of each calendar year.  Members will be required to provide the following information:
    • course name/activity description
    • identifying information (e.g. format – name of course provider, study group organizer, etc. [if group study, include the names of people in your study group])
    • role (attendee, presenter, author, etc.)
    • date of course
    • number of hours attended
  • Members who are exempt from complying with CPD requirements will identify their exemption on Form 16.

Failure to Report or Comply with CPD Requirements 

Late CPD Reporting

Rule 97(1)       A member who completes the CPD activities required under subrule 94(1) but does not file their CPD Report by January 31 as required under rule 96, must file their CPD Report and pay the fee for late CPD reporting by March 1 of that year.

Rule 97(2)       A member who does not file their CPD Report and pay the fee for late CPD reporting by March 1 as required under subrule (1), is automatically suspended until the Report has been filed and the late reporting fee has been paid, and the member is notified in writing by the Executive Director that the suspension is lifted.

Late CPD Completion

Rule 98(1)       A member who does not complete the CPD activities required under subrule 94(1) by December 31 must, by the following March 1 of the next year:

(a)        complete the CPD activities required under subrule 94(1);

(b)       file the CPD Report required under rule 96; and

(c)        pay the fee for late CPD completion.

Rule 98(2)       A member who does not complete the required CPD activities, file a CPD Report and pay the fee for late CPD completion as required under subrule (1), is automatically suspended until the activities are completed, the CPD Report is filed and the fee for late CPD completion is paid, and the member is notified in writing by the Executive Director that the suspension is lifted.

Monitoring

The Law Society will monitor compliance by auditing members.  If you are audited, you may be asked to provide receipts or other documents to establish the number of hours of your participation and the eligibility of the activities.