The duty in context
Maintain competence and CPD practice
The lawyer must keep their professional knowledge and skills up to date, follow the law governing their work, and meet continuing professional development requirements.
How the codes express this duty
E&W Solicitors SRA Principles & Code CCS 3.3; CCS 7.1 strong 25 cases
3.3 You maintain your competence to carry out your role and keep your professional knowledge and skills up to date. 7.1 You keep up to date with and follow the law and regulation governing the way you work.
SRA Code of Conduct for Solicitors, RELs and RFLs · 2019 · archived copy · official source ↗
E&W Barristers BSB Handbook gC39 strong 4 cases
gC39 In order to be able to provide a competent standard of work, you should keep your professional knowledge and skills up to date, regularly take part in professional development and educational activities that maintain and further develop your competence and performance ... Merely complying with the Continuing Professional Development requirements may not be sufficient to comply with Rule rC15.
BSB Handbook Part 2: Code of Conduct · 5.0 · archived copy · official source ↗
Cayman Islands Legal Services Code 2026 R.8.6 partial
An attorney-at-law and a recognised law entity shall ensure that all employees have the experience and are properly trained to achieve and maintain, a level of competence... appropriate to their work and level of responsibility.
Cayman Islands Legal Services Code of Professional Conduct · 2026 · archived copy
AU Solicitors Solicitors' Conduct Rules no clear equivalent
AU Barristers Uniform Barristers Rules no clear equivalent
IE Solicitors Law Society Guide Ch9 — Continuing professional development strong
A solicitor is required by regulation to keep their knowledge and skill up to date on a continuing basis during the whole of their professional career.
Solicitor's Guide to Professional Conduct (Law Society of Ireland) · 4th ed. (2022) · archived copy · official source ↗
IE Barristers Bar Code of Conduct Rule 9.2 strong
The Bar Council may specify by way of scheme or rules, the nature, content and format of courses and other activities which are required to be undertaken by Barristers (or any category of Barristers) by way of continuing professional development. A Barrister shall comply with any such scheme or rules.
Code of Conduct for the Bar of Ireland · 2024 · archived copy · official source ↗
JM Attorneys Canons of Professional Ethics no clear equivalent
JE Lawyers Law Society of Jersey Code R.7.7 strong
All members (including those who work part-time) must: a) complete a minimum of 15 hours of Continuing Professional Development ("CPD")... in each calendar year; b) ensure that they (or their firm on their behalf) file the CPD return... on or before 31 January in the year following; and c) produce their CPD record to the Law Society on request.
Law Society of Jersey Code of Conduct · 1 January 2017 · archived copy · official source ↗
ON Lawyers LSO Rules of Prof. Conduct r 3.1-1(j); r 3.1-2 commentary [2] partial
3.1-1 "competent lawyer" means a lawyer who has and applies relevant knowledge, skills and attributes ... including (j) pursuing appropriate professional development to maintain and enhance legal knowledge and skills. [cmt 2: the lawyer should keep abreast of developments in all areas of law in which the lawyer practises. The fixed CPD-hours requirement itself sits in the by-laws.]
Law Society of Ontario — Rules of Professional Conduct · current · archived copy · official source ↗
BC Lawyers BC Code r 3.1-2, commentary [2] partial 6 cases
Competence involves more than an understanding of legal principles: it involves an adequate knowledge of the practice and procedures by which such principles can be effectively applied. To accomplish this, the lawyer should keep abreast of developments in all areas of law in which the lawyer practises.
Code of Professional Conduct for British Columbia (BC Code) · 2017 · archived copy · official source ↗
NZ Lawyers Conduct & Client Care Rules r 3.9 strong
A lawyer must undertake the continuing education and professional development necessary to ensure an adequate level of knowledge and competence in his or her fields of practice.
Lawyers and Conveyancers Act (Lawyers: Conduct and Client Care) Rules 2008 · SR 2008/214 · archived copy · official source ↗
SCO Solicitors LSS Standards of Conduct B1.10 partial 1 case
You must only act in those matters where you are competent to do so.
Law Society of Scotland — Practice Rules 2011, Rule B1 (Standards of Conduct) · 2011 · archived copy · official source ↗
SG Lawyers Professional Conduct Rules 2015 r 4(h) strong 4 cases
A legal practitioner must keep up to date with all pertinent developments in the law in the legal practitioner’s area of practice.
Legal Profession (Professional Conduct) Rules 2015 · 2015 · archived copy · official source ↗
HK Solicitors Solicitors' Guide Principle 1.05 partial
A solicitor should keep abreast of changes in the statutory rules and non-statutory guidance governing solicitors' professional conduct as are published from time to time by the Law Society.
Hong Kong Solicitors' Guide to Professional Conduct (Volume 1) · current · archived copy · official source ↗
HK Barristers Bar Code of Conduct para 11.18(a)(i) partial
a pupil must during the period of his approved pupillage:- (i) obtain the number of ALE points required by rule 4(1) of the said Rules; and (ii) keep a record of all the ALE courses he has attended in the form approved by the Bar Council.
Code of Conduct of the Bar of the Hong Kong SAR · 2018 · archived copy · official source ↗
Cases dealing with this duty
50 decisions · link basis: found breached = a tribunal finding; rule cited = the mapped provision is cited in the decision; text match = high-precision text pattern
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Paul Christopher Doroshenko
Rule 3-7.1 Consent Agreement | Summary
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Bunton, Barry
Failure to comply with undertaking to Law Society of NSW to attain CPD points — Professional Misconduct
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Mr Geoffrey Robert CLIFT
Findings of professional misconduct and unsatisfactory professional conduct Reasons for decision
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Donald Alexander Boyd
Rule 4-29 Admission of Misconduct and Undertaking | Summary
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Nagle, Peter Richard
1. Engaged in legal practice in the period since 1 July 2016, contrary to section 10 of the Legal Profession Uniform Law 2. Represented himself as entitled to engage in legal practice in the period since 1 July 2016, co…
Reprimand $0.00 About About the OLSC The Commissioner History Mission statement Structure Contact Contact the OLSC Give us your feedback: online surveys Access to information (GIPAA) Community information Information for lawyers Fact sheets FAQs Other regulatory and complaint-handling organisations Contact LawAccess NSW for legal information " You and Your Lawyer", Hot Topics 78 Legal Information Access Centre (LIAC), State Library of NSW , provides access to information about the law in NSW regarding your lawyer Privacy Copyright and Disclaimer Website accessibility View decision -
Justine Leanne Wardle & An Other
Breaches, Failures, Solicitors' Accounts Rules
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Ronald Raymond Heywood
Others
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Peter John Cale
Others
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John Robert Jacobs
Failures, Solicitors' Accounts Rules, Others
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C H M Robson & Another
Breaches, Failures, Solicitors' Accounts Rules, Others
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Stephen Richard Outram
Breaches, Failures, Others
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David Alexander Farbrother
Breaches, Failures, Others
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Derrick French
Breaches, Failures
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Naseem Yousef
Breaches, Failures, Others
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Kemal Howard Gurpinar
Breaches, Client Money, Failures, Solicitors' Accounts Rules
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Mark Raymond Donnelly
The conduct the subject of charges 4, 5 and 6 of the discipline application filed 20 December 2024 constitutes professional misconduct
Reprimand; Pecuniary Penalty; Restriction on grant of practising cert.; Undertake Trust Accounting Course; Undertake Practice Management Course 1 PDF View decision
Duty classification does not yet cover every jurisdiction (Ontario, New Zealand and Singapore decisions are indexed but not yet duty-classified), so counts here understate those corpora.