Training Committee

Draft detailed recommendation[l1]S on continuing training

The Bars and Law Societies represented in the CCBE recognise:

  • that lawyers are obliged to guarantee the highest standards of professional practice ;
  • that all lawyers should promote the ideals and ethical standards of their legal professions and maintain their professional competence in order to fulfil their professional obligations to society;
  • that lawyers should always bear in mind their professional training, maintaining and increasing their knowledge in the fields in which they practise, as is recognised in particular by the CCBE Code of Conduct Article 3.1.3. which requires a lawyer not to “… handle a matter which he knows or ought to know he is not competent to handle…”;
  • that it is desirable for lawyers to extend their knowledge and skills in new directions, bearing in mind Article 5.8 of the CCBE Code of Deontology;
  • that lawyers should be allowed to study any laws, legal systems or legal[l2] methods and skills that seem appropriate to their professional needs;
  • that for migrant lawyers double continuing education requirements should not automatically be expected in accordance with the CCBE Guidelines on the Implementation of the Establishment Directive (98/5/EC of 16th February 1998) paragraph 13

that the CCBE Guidelines on the Implementation of the Establishment Directive (98/5/EC of 16th February 1998) paragraph 13 states “In order to avoid the multiple application of continuing professional education schemes, where a lawyer is established under the Directive in a Member State other than that in which he or she is qualified, the lawyer shall be subject to the continuing professional education rules of the host State bar, except where the home State bar has rules which oblige the lawyer to continue home State professional education wherever he or she is based. In addition, the bars and law societies of all Member States are encouraged to develop flexible continuing professional education rules which will permit migrant lawyers to satisfy them by undertaking continuing professional education not only in host state law but also in home state law”;

  • that lifelong professional learning is a core element of the EU’s strategy, established at the Lisbon Summit of 2000, to become “the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustained economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion” and that the European Commission’s Communication on Making a European Area of Lifelong Learning a Reality of 21 November 2001, seeks “to promote life long learning for all”;
  • that the Recommendations are is not intended to impose a solution or obligation, but to allow for every possibility of encourageing the adoption of a continuing training schemes and to confirm a culture of quality and training for lawyers, with their particular symbolic worth.in the public interest.

and therefore adopt the following detailed recommendations in order to facilitate the tasks of the Bars and Law Societies to help their members fulfil these goals:

I. Subject

Thisese Guidelines Recommendation coversare aimed at covering all both lawyers registered with athe Bar or Law Society and those established in the host State.[l3]

II. AREAS OF CONTINUING TRAINING

The lLawyers should undergo continuing training in his their area of practice, including the applicable European Community law, and deontology.

III. METHOD OF continuing TRAINING

The following activities can be taken into consideration for continuing training:

- Attendance at lectures, seminars, meetings, conferences and congresses

- E-learning

- Writing of articles, essays, books

- Teaching

- Any other recognised activity

IV.authorised bodies to recognise the activity

-Bars and Law Societies

-National Council

-Training centre

-Other entitled or recognised bodies

European Community bodies

Credits (in time)

Between 10 and 20 credits (hours) per year, calculated according to biannual or triennial periods (taking into account Community law, European comparative law and deontology)

Activities’ value

The value is indicated by authorised bodies

(for example,

Attendance at a conference: 1 credit

Participation in lectures, seminars, meetings, conferences, congresses: 3 credits per day or 4 credits as a rapporteur

Writing of articles and essays: 4 credits

Teaching or writing books in legal matters (= satisfies the annual tariff).

V.IV. EVALUTION and monitoring OF continuing TRAINING

Continuing training undertaken by lawyers should be regularly evaluated, which could be done with a weighted allotment of hours/credit points being given for the various methods and duration of training[l4] Control over fulfilment of continuing training obligations (including the consequences of non-completion) shallshould be administered by the competent Bar or Law Society on the basis of pertinent national legislation where appropriate , and could include a system of self-certification by lawyers subject to random checks.

The authorised bodies may deliver attestation of participation and frequency

The attestations are to be kept for 5 years

-Bars and Law Societies

-Possibility to acknowledge the existence of justificatory cause or to exempt from the obligation

VI.Penalty or benefits

VII.

VIII.Opening of a disciplinary procedure

IX.Penalty (caution, reprimand or suspension)

X.To benefit from a lower professional indemnity insurance

XI.To benefit by indicating a specialisation

XII.To benefit by indicating the recognised continuing training on letterheads and in the roll kept by the bar.

XIII.

XIV.

(6 September 2002)

CONSEIL DES BARREAUX DE L'UNION EUROPEENNE

COUNCIL OF THE BARS AND LAW SOCIETIES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

CCBE

1

[l1]We discussed whether this should be a resolution or recommendation at the TC meeting on 4th September. I think we decided in favour of maintaining “recommendation”, as t is a document to encourage adoption of action by Bars and Law Societies. Is everyone happy with bthis?

[l2]Both the Austrian Rechtsnwaelte and English and Welsh solicitors consider this too narrow, as it should also be possible to improve general legal and managerial skills, This seems a good point and so I have added in “and skills” to cater to this point.

[l3]« and those established in the host State » is deleted as probably unnecessary because under the establishment Directive 98/5/EC EU lawyers must register with the host Bar/Law Society and under Directive 89/48/EEC they are members of the host Bar or Law Society. The deleted words would catch non-EU lawyers who were not registered (e.g. US lawyers in England and Wales). Any views?

[l4]German compromise text: "There should be a consistent quantitative valuation, on the basis of written evidence, of the training performed by the lawyer during each calendar year with a weighted allotment of hours/credit points for the various methods and duration of training"