As we reflect on the past few years and look forward to the year ahead, everyone here at the Law Society (especially the CPD team) would like to express our most sincere gratitude to all of the incredible volunteers who have contributed so substantially to the education of their colleagues.
All practising lawyers must complete 12 hours of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in each calendar year.
What is the deadline?
All hours must be completed by December 31.
What options are available?
CPD options available 24/7:
Other High Quality CPD Providers
For a comprehensive list see this CPD announcement So Many Options!
Where can I find more details about the requirements?
Visit our website: MCPD Requirements and Eligible Activities.
Questions?
CPD Programing and CPD on Demand
Contact: cpd@lawsociety.mb.ca.
Meeting Your MCPD Requirements
Contact: mcpd@lawsociety.mb.ca
Family law practitioners assist with legal issues that represent some of the most important matters their clients will face. We’ve been working with volunteer lawyers who have the expertise to help develop some new and substantial Family Law resources. This effort generates up-to-date content to reflect the many significant recent changes, including procedural changes, amendments to the Divorce Act, and notes on potential future changes to provincial legislation.
The results of that work are now being realized!
We are excited to announce that our free library of Practice Area Fundamentals written resources is expanding with a nine-chapter collection focusing on Family Law, including a chapter devoted to child protection and guardianship.
This collection represents a high-value resource as changes continue to unfold in this practice area.
Available now:
Chapter 1: Initial Considerations
Chapter 2: Commencing an Action and Interim Relief
Chapter 3: Divorce, Parenting, Support and Protective Relief
Chapter 4: Property and Pensions
Chapter 5: Discovery, Preparation for Trial and the Trial
Chapter 6: Enforcement, Variation and Appeals
Chapter 8: Adoption, Assisted Reproduction and Parentage
Chapter 9: Child Protection and Guardianship
Sometimes we hear members say “I just need to get my hours…” While there is a concrete requirement that is measured by hours, please don’t reduce professional development to “hours”.
The Mandatory Continuing Professional Development rules were put in place to provide a minimum requirement to assist you in making sure that you prioritize maintaining and enhancing your professional competence… reality is, we all work to “deadlines”. The real intention is for you to reflect on your competence and determine your professional development needs so you can then find meaningful resources to address your needs and goals. This is not about just “getting your hours”. Please don’t do that to yourself, that’s just wasting your time and energy!
Now, more than ever, you have a vast array of options to enhance your own professional development. Online resources abound and you can access them at virtually any time of day. This is excellent news as we know that the needs of individual lawyers vary a great deal and there is no one provider of CPD that can offer all things to all lawyers.
Here in Manitoba we are particularly fortunate to have a collaborative and collegial relationship amongst the various arms of the legal profession. Each arm contributes to and offers educational opportunities and we highly recommend that you take a look around to ensure you are taking advantage of the most relevant CPD for you and your practice.
Here are a few places for you to look for high quality CPD:
The Law Society of Manitoba also offers CPD Programs, both live and on demand.
As always, if you have any questions about CPD or the requirements you may contact us at: cpd@lawsociety.mb.ca or mcpd@lawsociety.mb.ca.
If you are new to a practice area or if you simply want a refresher on the current law and practice in Manitoba, the Practice Area Fundamentals are a great place to start. With the help of volunteer lawyers with relevant practice experience we’ve been able to update the old Bar Admission (aka CPLED) materials in several practice areas. These resources are available to anyone in the profession at no cost.
Check out the new chapters now posted in:
The Law Society has a new online registration process for all live CPD programs! No more forms to fill out – simply visit the CPD Programs page on the Education Centre and click on the session that you are interested in to begin.
Please register to attend a program using the online system regardless of how you wish to pay (credit card or cheque are both acceptable).
You may be interested to note… This system allows you to register for more than 1 program at a time while paying in one single transaction. You may also register multiple attendees for any particular program while paying in one single transaction.
We are excited to announce our newly relaunched Practice Resource Library. This comprehensive collection of resources is now conveniently available at the click of your mouse, free of charge. While designed to support all Manitoba lawyers in their practice, these resources have been developed with solo and small firm practitioners particularly in mind.
You will find substantive and procedural guidance, case law, precedents and forms with the ease of hyperlinked references in numerous topic areas grouped by 3 main categories:
Explore the Education Centre with new resources regularly added to assist you in your practice.
