Points mean prizes

The television series Torchwood used to start with a man standing on a roof in Cardiff and the words “everything changes”. That sentiment applies perfectly to continuous professional development (CPD) which is experiencing an unsettling time. This was signalled initially in the Solicitors Regulation Authority’s (SRA) paper of February 2007 entitled The Way Ahead and more recently when the Legal Services Board announced a review of legal education which will include CPD. But the most fundamental area of change will be around lawyers’ attitudes to CPD.

Outcomes focused regulation

Change is being driven with the move to a world where outcomes and demonstrated competences will become a key part of lawyers’ lives and disciplines which they will have to embrace. The evidence can already be seen with the SRA’s move towards the introduction of outcomes-focused regulation, their proposals for work-based learning to replace the training contract and in a similar set of outcomes on which ILEX is consulting.