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14 April 2011 / Jane Ching
Issue: 7461 + 7462 / Categories: Features , Profession
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Points mean prizes

Jane Ching explores how the changing legal landscape will affect lawyers’ approach to CPD

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.

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NEWS

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Momentum is building behind proposals to restrict children’s access to social media—but the legal and practical challenges are formidable. In NLJ this week, Nick Smallwood of Mills & Reeve examines global moves, including Australia’s under-16 ban and the UK's consultation
Reforms designed to rebalance landlord-tenant relations may instead penalise leaseholders themselves. In this week's NLJ, Mike Somekh of The Freehold Collective warns that the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 risks creating an ‘underclass’ of resident-controlled freehold companies
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The traditional ‘single, intensive day’ of financial dispute resolution (FDR) may be due for a rethink. Writing in NLJ this week, Rachel Frost-Smith and Lauren Guiler of Birketts propose a ‘split FDR’ model, separating judicial evaluation from negotiation
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