Recorded Interactive Webinar: 3 CPD Compulsory Programs for Family Lawyers – Ethics, Professional Skills, Practice Management

This webinar comprises 3 one-hour sessions covering each of the compulsory CPD subjects for lawyers for the CPD year ending 31 March 2026.

Session 1: Professional Skills

Mastering Family Law Contravention Applications: Advocacy and Strategy Under the New Act

Contravention proceedings demand sharp advocacy, precise drafting, and clear strategic judgment. Since the May 2024 amendments, inconsistent judicial approaches have made these skills even more critical for family lawyers seeking to advise clients with confidence and prepare effectively for the first return date. This session will equip practitioners with the professional skills needed to handle contravention applications, including:

• Clarifying the current legal framework and available remedies, and identifying when the old Act may still apply
• Assessing when to pursue a contravention application — and when to advise clients that it is not the best strategic option
• Adapting advocacy skills when acting for Applicants versus Respondents, including how and when to put evidence before the Court
• Drafting skills: properly particularising orders sought and affidavits in quasi-criminal proceedings
• Responding persuasively when faced with incomplete or poorly prepared contravention applications

Session 2: Practice Management & Business Skills

Costs Agreements & Terms of Engagement - Practice Management for Family Lawyers

Running a family law practice isn’t just about advocacy – it’s also about sustainability, compliance, and keeping the practice financially healthy. With margins tightening, costs rising, and clients under financial pressure, practice management strategies are now critical to survival and growth. This session examines practical ways to ensure your Costs Agreement and Fee Estimates are up to date and compliant with Uniform Law; and that your Terms of Engagement are fit for purpose in the demanding area of family law service delivery.

This session has a focus on ensuring clients are fully informed of your service offering as well as the scope, terms and costs of same, whilst running a more efficient practice and avoiding the risk of complaints.

The aim is to strengthen the business side of your practice while still delivering quality service, including:

• Compliance with Uniform Law and other professional obligations including compliance with Family Law Rules
• Strategies for fee estimate models that suit family law
• Delegation and efficiency: communicating with clients about use of juniors, paralegals, and technology to avoid senior lawyers doing low-value work
• Terms of Engagement which support client management and boundaries to keep emotionally charged clients from draining resources and time and running up unnecessary fees
• Risk management strategies and procedures to avoid compliance breaches, missed deadlines, and costs complaints

Session 3: Ethics

Managing Risk and Reputation in Family Law

Few areas of practice generate as many complaints as family law, where emotions run high, outcomes are deeply personal, and lawyers are often caught in the crossfire. Ethical missteps, even unintentional ones, can quickly spiral into regulatory investigations or disciplinary action. This session examines how family lawyers can uphold their ethical duties while navigating complex, high-risk matters, including:

• The most common ethical complaint triggers in family law — and how to recognise them early
• Managing conflicts of interest when acting for multiple parties, or in small communities
• Maintaining professional independence in the face of client pressure, hostility, or manipulation
• Ensuring confidentiality and proper handling of sensitive client information in volatile disputes
• Ethical communication: setting clear boundaries with vulnerable or volatile clients without crossing professional lines