CPD Courses and Training for Lawyers

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Basic CPD courses by Delia Venables
Beginners Guide to the Internet
First and Second Set of Advanced Internet Studies

ebooks with CPD by Nick Holmes and Delia Venables
Legal Web 2009/2009 - Topics of Modern Legal Practice
Legal Web 2008/2009 - Law 2.0 in Progress

Sponsored links

CPD Webinars - leading speakers, leading technology.

Source the Course - 5,500 courses from over 75 providers

Last updated on April 18th.

------------First, some major directories of legal training.....

The Lawyer provides the most comprehensive, searchable database of training and networking events for lawyers available. It offers access to over 5,000 courses and conferences covering a wide range of practice areas, skills and management courses from over 40 of the leading training providers and conference producers. You can register to receive a CPD/Events Update email.

The Solicitors Regulation Authority on CPD provides lists of certified CPD course providers by subject area and there is also a list of distance learning course providers. However, these are lists of course providers rather than courses as such.

The Bar Standards Board is now hosting the Bar Council's data base of CPD courses. You can search for courses by subject, date, location, type of course etc.

Source the Course provides a database of courses for solicitors, barristers, legal executives, paralegals and support staff. Users can search according to their practice area or personal development requirements and results are split into public, in-house, e-learning and DVD/CD courses. Where relevant, courses are listed by location so that users can find local events. Users can register to receive a monthly email listing courses coming up in the next 6 weeks in their chosen practice area and location.

The listing of individual course providers (and coaching providers) follows:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Act Now Training has been delivering training since 1999. They specialise in information law training in the public sector and cover Data Protection, Freedom of Information, Environmental Information Regulations, RIPA/SPoC Accreditation and Records Management. Their speakers have many years of experience working for local authorities and advising the public sector so they know exactly what pressures and issues the delegates are facing on a day to day level. Training sessions are arranged in a number of locations including London, Manchester, York, Belfast, Dublin and Edinburgh.

Anglia DNA Services Limited offers expertise in DNA testing for legal purposes including immigration and family law cases. They are accredited by the Solicitors Regulation Authority to offer "The Use of DNA Testing in Legal Practice" designed for solicitors and professionals interested in gaining an understanding of the use of DNA testing for paternity and other family relationship issues (see the site for more details). Courses are held in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Bristol and they can also provide a service tailored to particular firms or local authorities.

APIL training comes from The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) and is the rebranded version of its former successful training division, the College of Personal Injury Law (CPIL). APIL has been running Law Society CPD accredited training events for almost fifteen years and has a wealth of experience in developing the most practical up-to-date courses, delivered by leading speakers, either publicly or in-house. APIL training now runs over 150 personal injury training events nationally each year. Topics cover a wide range of subjects and are geared towards giving personal injury lawyers a thorough grounding in the core areas of personal injury law, whilst keeping lawyers thoroughly up-to-date in all subjects.

altior (formerly Lawyers Planning Services) is a leading UK provider of management consulting services and skills training courses for lawyers. Each year they tutor thousands of professionals in the UK and abroad as well as advising a large number of firms on a consulting basis. All courses are accredited for CPD purposes by The Law Society, The Bar Council and The Institute of Legal Executives. Courses include Advocacy, Civil Litigation, Legal Aid, Clinical Negligence, LSC Contract Compliance & Management Audits, Commercial, Crime, Management Course Stage 1, Management Course Stage 2, Employment, Practice Management, Family, Professional Skills Course, Higher Rights of Audience and Property.

Beyond the Brief provides professionally tailored practical competency based training on Leadership, Management, Diversity, and Client Relationship Management for the legal profession. Since 2003, Ann Page has been delivering courses in these areas as well as coaching lawyers (in-house and private practice). All training and coaching is CPD accredited. She has written 'Managing External Legal Resources' published by ICSA in 2007. This can be odered on the site.

Birmingham Law Society offers a large number of training courses on many areas of law and practice management.

BPP Law School is a leading provider of professional legal education in the UK with over 4,000 students based nationally across 4 sites based in Leeds, London (Holborn and Waterloo) and Manchester. Both full time and part time courses as well as distance learning courses. The courses use a unique mix of academic and practitioner lecturers, course materials prepared in partnership with numerous law firms, and innovative pro bono projects.

Bristol Law Society offer a range of competitively priced CPD courses to lawyers in the South West. Discounts are available to members of the Bristol Law Society, ILEX members, trainees, support staff and retired lawyers, but the courses are open to all. They are accredited as a course provider by the Law Society, Bar Council and ILEX,

British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL) exists to advance the understanding of international and comparative law, and to promote the rule of law in international affairs. It has played an important role in providing research, advice, and strategic consulting services in law reform projects around the world. Training courses have been designed for a variety of participants including judges, government legal advisers, leading practising lawyers and court officials. The Institute is able to provide initial needs assessment, customised programmes designed for specific requirements and training by leading practitioners and professional bodies in the United Kingdom.

Cardiff University Professional Development Unit offers training and assessment in relation to the Law Society Police Station Accreditation Scheme for representatives and for those solicitors hoping to qualify as duty solicitors (Law Society Criminal Litigation Accreditation Scheme). The training is approved by the Law Society for CPD purposes.

University of Cambridge Board of Continuing Education - Legal Studies, provides a varied programme of courses for legal professionals and others working in related fields. This includes a regular series of accredited CPD courses for lawyers, covering a wide-range of subjects.

Central Law Training is the largest provider of CPD training in the UK offering about 3,500 events nationwide per year. Training is also provided for Paralegals, New York State Bar, Accreditation of Police Station Representatives, Post Qualification Certificates and Masters degrees

Centre for Professional Practice at the University of Dundee, offers courses including CPD, and makes extensive use of IT and the Internet in the course material.

ChristopherSwann Professional Development provides CPD accredited courses for lawyers around the country on many topics particularly management and staff development topics.

City Law School runs legal skills courses for solicitors, accountants, healthcare practitioners and other professionals, drawing on the collective knowledge and skills of staff in the School. They are pioneers in practical legal skills training and trainers all have practical legal experience and many are leaders in their field. They are accredited by the Bar Standards Board and the Solicitors Regulation Authority for the provision of CPD.

Civil Court Users Association exists to represent the interests of organisations that use the Civil Courts in England and Wales. Amongst other activities, they offer CPD courses to their members - 45 hours of CPD, free of charge.

College of Law offer CPD courses and in particular the very popular Legal Network Television (LNTV) which has provided high quality professional video training for tens of thousands of solicitors throughout the UK.

CPDcast is a new CPD company which delivers audio material (podcasts) for current awareness and CPD training online. All podcasts consist of mini 'radio' programmes in a question and answer format, recorded and edited to broadcast quality. Each CPDcast lasts 30 minutes and can be downloaded to any device that plays MP3s or listened to directly from this website. You can listen via a PC, iPod, BlackBerry or Mobile. Topics include Company Law, Family Law, Employment, Negligence, Human Rights, Insolvency, Trusts and Civil Litigation. Each 30 minute podcast costs £25.

CPD Channel provides one hour online courses satisfying the CPD requirements for solicitors and barristers. Content is authored by leaders in their specific field, made available on stable internet platforms and are accessible in a no fuss manner at affordable prices. The company is also looking for more course leaders to provide content.

CPD4lawyers team is led by Richard Smithies, a partner with Bearders Solicitors. The team are specialists in Live Internet CPD/CPE seminars for solicitors, barristers and accountants. Delegates can attend the seminars from their home or office computer without the hassle of travel or loss of time. Usually of one hour, delegates can follow the seminar with the provided notes and/or Power Point slides. Unlike recorded lectures, delegates can ask questions and interact with their fellow delegates using their microphone or using the online text facility. Because of their interactive nature, current research indicates that learning is 30% greater with live Internet lectures compared to recorded material. Firms with more than one colleague attending have the option to project the lecture onto a screen. Reductions are given for block bookings. Be-spoke courses can also be tailored to firms' individual requirements. Recordings enable delegates to re-visit their seminar after the event. Delegates' packs are also available for many of our seminars including a recording of the seminar, delegates notes and/or Power Point slides.

CPD Specialist is an online CPD management service for the CPD requirements of legal professionals. You can find CPD courses here, book them online and automatically add these details to an online CPD Record card for submission to your legal regulatory body.

CPD Training (UK) Ltd present a variety of Law Society accredited CPD programmes which are entertaining, flexible and above all, educational. Entertaining because people are allowed to laugh and enjoy themselves; flexible because the courses we offer are held at times and in ways, such as on-line, that suit our clients; and educational because people who do our training say they actually learn something. They say: CPD should be practical, challenging and fun.

CPD Webinars is a new site and a new venture from two barristers, Tim Kevan and Daniel Barnett. "Webinar" is shorthand for "web seminar" - live seminars, transmitted from the company's television studio to the participant's computer, where the viewer can not only watch the live seminar but also type in questions and "take part" in the seminar. Each Webinar lasts for 90 minutes including 30 minutes of live questions to the speaker(s). Following the Webinar, you can take an online test to receive two CPD hours. There is a demonstration lecture on the site "Fraudulent and Exaggerated Claims" which the viewer can take for free (including earning the 2 hours CPD) and there are also shorter demonstrations to make sure that the lecture can be received by your computer. They are providing one webinar every two months in each of personal injury and employment law; you can see the full programme on the site and prices are very low.

CrimeLine is a specialist company set up by Andrew Keogh and Paul Lewis, providing courses in criminal law and practice. They use experts such as Rock Tansey QC for abuse of process course and Ed Cape for Police Station Updaters. They are also offering free CPD on the site. The lawyer receives a weekly Updater (by email) on criminal law covering new cases, legislation and criminal law news. At the end of the month, you can answer 12 multiple-choice questions online and if you get at least 9 of these right (with the questions being marked automatically and the result being available straight away) you are provided with a certificate allowing 1 hours CPD. This allows 12 hours CPD to be obtained in the year - and all free. You can register on the site and also view past issues. There is also a sample test here (no legal questions - more a sort of general knowledge quiz) where you can test out the way it works. An earlier version of this scheme has been in operation for some months and the email Updater is already read by 3,000 lawyers each week.

This site is an excellent resource for criminal solicitors. Now there is free CPD too.
Criminal Solicitor Dot Net provides criminal practitioners with news (frequently updated) and resources on criminal law and criminal contracting. The site is principally run by Gavin Burrell of BTMK Solicitors in Essex. The site offers access to forums to discuss criminal law and contracting issues and provides a case law updater and legislation updater to keep members aware of impending or recent changes in criminal law. You have to register to be a "member" but it is free. There is also a weekly email newsletter on which free CPD (1 hour a month) can be earned. The site also incorporates several blogs and newsfeeds - Diary of a Criminal Solicitor, The Law West of Ealing Broadway, and The Policeman’s Blog (all reached via the site as above). These blogs contain the news items available on the site but are "filtered" according to these categories.

Delia Ivory Coonan is an independent legal skills training specialist. She has over twenty years experience in the teaching of

specialist academic subjects (carriage of goods, sales and international sales, consumer credit, marine insurance, jurisdiction and arbitration);

the practice of the skills of the professional litigator.
She works closely with individual delegates to the courses and also designs courses for particular firms by arrangement.

Delia Venables has a whole range of training materials:

Beginner's Guide to the Internet for Lawyers

Advanced Internet Studies for Lawyers (First Set) and

Advanced Internet Studies for Lawyers (Second Set)
Also... E-books with CPD by Nick Holmes and Delia Venables

Topics of Modern Legal Practice

Law 2.0 in Progress
These are all accredited for CPD from the Solicitors Regulation Authority and the Bar Standards Board. If you are already surfing the web, you might find these quite an easy way to get your CPD! The courses are good fun and very cheap too; they can be purchased either for an individual or for a whole organisation - see the links above for details.

Direction Finders Coaching is run by an experienced lawyer and certified coach, Catherine Harris. She provides individual and corporate coaching services primarily to lawyers working in the City of London. As she says "I bring a unique blend of coaching skills and industry nous to my work. I understand the work you do and the pressures you are under because I’ve been there".

Employment barrister Daniel Barnett, who provides the excellent free employment law email newsletter alerting service currently taken by 2,000 lawyers, is now offering a means of obtaining CPD from these newsletters. People receiving them can download a set of questions and obtain CPD depending on how many questions they get right. They do not have to part with any money until they can see their score! If they wish to go ahead, the cost is then £100 plus VAT. The scheme can also be accessed here.

Family Law Week is a free site for family lawyers, covering developments in divorce, ancillary relief, private child law, public child law and cohabitation. (You have to register, but it is free). Each week, there is:

news, covering consultations, policy announcements and reports

cases, with the latest publicly available judgments from Casetrack, Court Service and Bailli. For significant cases, there will be a digest with the full text of the judgment. Where a case significantly alters family law and practice, there will be a commentary highlighting the impact that the case will have.

articles from leading family law writers.

legislation, with details of all new SIs, together with a link to the full text of the legislation; progress of Bills will be tracked.

resources, with useful links and documents such as updated Family Proceedings Fees.
All available information can be searched on the site and there is also a "print ready" issue of Family Law Week which can be downloaded from the site (also free). The site provides CPD courses which are based around each month's new material. There is a new course each month. Courses are multiple choice. Users can buy 'training credits', which cost a maximum of £15 plus VAT for 1 hours CPD. If users buy 2 to 5, they cost £13.50 each, 6 or more works out at £12 each. Users complete the course online, it gets marked online immediately, the user is informed of success or failure, if they have failed they can retake as many times as they like at no extra charge. The user also builds up a training log with date passed, number of CPD points etc. They can also print out a pdf certificate for each cousre passed. Family Law Week is accredited by the Bar Council and ILEX as an external course provider.

fresh is a new company providing professional development for lawyers at all levels and in all types of practice. Fresh specialises in skills and management training tailored to meet client needs and delivered in- house. fresh also offers professional development, public relations, pro bono and community affairs consultancy services.

Helix Scientific Consultants Ltd are post-doctoral molecular biologists providing a novel CPD training course on DNA evidence. Their introductory courses are designed specifically for lawyers and are both Law Society and Bar Council accredited. Designed to explain the origin and pitfalls of the evidence that lands on a lawyer's desk, the courses are both informative and fun. They provide the course in several formats, both online and in-house, and can tailor it to suit a firm's specific needs.

HJT Training Limited specialises in delivering high quality training in the field of Immigration, Asylum and Human Rights Law. We aim to ensure, through our versatility, that our clients gain the maximum professional and commercial advantage from our service. Our Immigration Accreditation manual (2nd edition now being published) is the only publication available in the UK that is specifically targeted at providing an up-do-date review of material that falls within the Law Society Competence Standards for the exam. Beyond accreditation, HJT Training has worked in partnership with UNHCR and the IAS on the provision of country information courses, such as that on Iraq in December 2004 which featured a presentation by the senior members of UNHCR's legal and protection teams, including their Head of Mission to Iraq. Country courses run so far in 2005 have been Somalia, Afghanistan, Turkey, Iraq/Iran and Zimbabwe. Courses on other countries are being regularly developed.

Institute of Legal Secretaries and PAs was founded in 1990 to promote the excellence and professional recognition of Legal Secretaries and PAs. They are a professional organisation with Students and Members throughout the UK and overseas. The Institute provides nationally recognised qualifications and helps people with their legal secretarial careers by giving advice, support and career guidance. The Legal Secretaries Diploma course provides the legal knowledge and skills needed to work as a Legal Secretary. There are evening classes in London throughout the year and also Distance Learning available.

Institute of Mental Health Law (the site maintained by Dave Sheppard) runs accredited CPD courses on all aspect of mental health law.

Jordan Publishing Seminars offer high quality, value for money training, starting from £99 per delegate. They are fully accredited as training providers by the Law Society, ILEX and the Bar Council for the purposes of continuing professional development. The programme includes courses on: Family Law, Children Law, Personal Injury Litigation, Charity Administration and Financial Reporting, Insolvency, Company Secretarial Administration, Criminal Law and Human Rights.

J T-W Consulting Ltd provide Management Training and Lexcel Familiarisation courses which are Law Society CPD accredited and range from 1.5 hours to 12 hours. They can be customised and delivered on firms’ premises as well as at venues throughout England and Wales. Formed in 1998, J T-W Consulting Ltd is a business consulting company specialising in the legal sector. It supports solicitors with Strategy, Business Development, Training and Lexcel Implementation.

Kate Shepherd Associates is a training company specialising in employment law training in the Midlands. Kate is a qualified solicitor and worked at a senior level within private practice before setting up the company. She has brought together a team of experts in employment law, HR, management development, health and safety, communication, cultural and behavioural change, diversity, workplace mediation and psychology.

Katherine Long Associates is a Law Society approved provider of CPD credited coaching to solicitors, operating from the West Midlands. She provides One to One Coaching, CPD Credited Coaching for Solicitors, Team Coaching, Coaching for Intercultural Competencies and In-house Coach Support.

Kaye Tesler & Co. are a practising firm of solicitors who produce educational videos pertinent to every day legal practise. Their latest publication is a video explaining the choices that everyone will have to make when they inevitably reach the step of buying video conferencing equipment. Michael Kaye, recognising the profession's difficulty in seeing a complete picture of e-conveyancing, has also published a twin CD talk (3hrs CPD) covering many different aspects including Land Registry changes, NLIS and its channel holders and digital identities. Cost is £49.99 + VAT; contact Kaye Tesler & Co, DX 55600 Sth Tottenham or fax 020 8802 0660.

Kintish have helped thousands of people become confident and effective networkers by offering business networking tips, techniques and training. They provide CPD courses for lawyers in business networking and business development.

Law Skills was set up by solicitor Gill Steel in 2000 to help law firms and individuals win, satisfy, retain and understand their clients and their staff. Having been a practising private client solicitor with a well known large firm of lawyers in the south of England, Gill knows at first hand what kind of problems lawyers face when handling difficult client issues. She has a wide experience of preparing and presenting training programmes on technical matters in Wills, Probate, Trusts, Tax and Skills development. One particular course which she runs is called "Death and Taxes". This unique course, originally launched in 2005, is now well established in the training calendar. Classes are deliberately kept to a limited number so you gain maximum benefit from Gill's practical hands-on approach.

Law South provides a wide range courses for lawyers and support staff at all levels. The portfolio includes introductions to the major legal topics for support staff and para-legals, courses on new legislation aimed at more senior fee-earners and a variety of personal and management skills courses for everyone from receptionists to senior partners. All courses are accredited for Law Society and ILEX CPD and take place in London and central locations in the south east. All skills courses can be adapted to run in-house and to suit individual firms' own environments and protocols.

Lawyers in Business is dedicated to developing, coaching and supporting in-house lawyers. They run workshops accredited for Law Society and Bar Council CPD on how to orchestrate legal services, manage legal departments and deal with transactions and situations with which in-house lawyers are confronted. The workshops and seminars are listed here.

Lawyers Online offer Online CPD, a way of earning up to 75% of of your annual CPD requirement via distance learning by studying material on their web site and answering a set of questions. It has the major benefit that you can take the CPD approved course before you spend any money (Try before you Buy). All you have to do is read the course material on this web site (listed under Courses in the menu). Then fill out the Questionnaire. Once completed it will tell you how many CPD Points you are entitled to.

The Law Society provides various CPD seminars, listed on this site.

Legal Action Group provides a programme of continuing professional development courses which are designed to meet the needs of legal aid practitioners, advisers and voluntary sector professionals.

Legal Aid Practitioners Group represents over 800 firms of High Street Solicitors, committed to legal aid work. They offer a comprehensive programme of reasonably priced CPD courses.

Legal Finance Professionals offer a range of CPD accredited courses on subjects including the Solicitors' Accounts Rules 1998, Identifying Fraud & Other Irregularities, Accounting for Legal Aid, VAT for Solicitors, Preparing for an SRA Inspection Visit and Money Laundering Regulations 2007. They can also deliver bespoke courses tailored to meet a firm's precise needs.

Legal Training is an accredited online CPD provider for barristers, solicitors and legal executives. The website offers reasonably priced, instant access, online CPD courses covering a range of practice areas and subjects; family law, criminal law, civil law, practice management and IT skills. Costs are £15 per CPD point with a range of courses from 1 to 3 CPD points, and a multi-buy discount offer of 12 CPD points for the price of 9. There is also a no quibble money-back guarantee. Established by Amanda Millmore a barrister (currently non-practising) and an IT professional, the courses offer interesting, informative ways of obtaining CPD. The whole process is completed online.

Legaltraining.tv Ltd is an innovative publisher of online legal training (including CPD) and news for qualified and student lawyers in the UK and Internationally. There are many courses available and prices are very reasonable.

LGG is the Local Government Group, comprising all solicitors employed by local authorities in England and Wales. They work in close association with ACSeS - the Association of Council Secretaries and Solicitors and organise 100 legal training events each year, focussed on the training needs of public law/local government practitioners. They provide legal updates, basics and advanced courses, management courses, skills training and tailor made courses. Since 1987 they have provided training for over 50,000 delegates attending over 2000 training events. The Law Society, The Bar Council, ILEX and many organisations for CPD purposes, accredits LGG.

Liverpool Law Society was founded in 1827 and now has 1,600 members in practice within the Merseyside area. It is one of the largest law societies in England and Wales. Membership is broad and varies from practitioners engaged in high value commercial work to complex charity work; from Maritime law to legal aid. There is a major law library which is one of the largest outside London and the Society runs its own CPD courses and arranges special events and exhibitions. There are over 200 legal and non-legal courses annually throughout the North West. Rates are competitive and members of the Liverpool Law Society receive additional discounts. All courses are accredited by the Law Society, Bar Council and ILEX.

London Legal Training was established in May 2000 by solicitor and lecturer Nigel Lipton to provide both in house and public courses and conferences for solicitors, barristers and other professionals. Speakers at the courses and conferences are acknowledged leaders in their field. As well as providing courses and conferences on general practice areas, London Legal Training also runs more specialist courses and conferences such as conferences on Media, Entertainment & Intellectual Property Law and Sports Law.

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For legal secretaries
Pitman Training London, in High Holborn & Notting Hill, are leaders in touch typing courses, secretarial courses, shorthand, bookkeeping courses and IT courses. There are nationally recognised diploma programmes and in particular, the Legal Secretarial Course.

Pitman Training Centres in Ireland is the largest independent training network in Ireland. The company provides computer courses and office skills computer training to businesses and individuals alike and offers the Legal Secretary Diploma.

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MBL Seminars was established in July 2003 to meet the training and development requirements of the professional service firm sector. Producing the highest quality seminars on Management, Business and Law-related topics, they only use speakers who are leaders in their fields of expertise. You can opt in to receive emails about new courses as they are available.

Mentor Online Lectures cover a wide range of subjects, particularly in commercial and insolvency law. Lectures are accredited by the Law Society, Bar Council and Institute of Legal Executives, and recognised for CPD purposes by all the major accountancy bodies. The lectures are filmed and presented using the latest video and audio technology together with streaming to ensure fast access. They can be accessed anytime and anywhere in the world. Each lecture is a practical and informative guide, tackling head on the latest law and insolvency issues in this exciting new medium.

New Law Training is an online based provider of CPD seminars and lectures for barristers, solicitors and members of ILEX. The CPD seminars / lectures are designed to be informative, educational and affordable. All seminars / lectures are delivered in Birmingham.

Practical Law Company provides a range of events, conferences and training courses in association with various third parties such as The College of Law and MacIntyre Hudson. Courses cater for lawyers both in private practice and in-house and cover a wide range of topics. They hold the successful annual PLC Law Department Forum for senior in-house counsel as well as ad-hoc conferences on hot topics and current issues.

Practical Law Tutors provide professional courses for criminal defence solicitors, court clerks and prosecutors at UK-wide venues. They are CPD-accredited so each course will count towards your CPD hours. Courses are held at unique locations throughout the country and are run by two highly experienced, practising solicitors. Course fees are extremely competitive and detailed notes are provided to all delegates.

Price Professional Development is a new company specialising in skills (non-legal) training for Lawyers at all levels. Their training and coaching programmes are accredited by the Law Society and ILEX for CPD. Their philosophy is to inspire people to create a compelling future and grow as a result. Their programmes are fun, practical and the skills people develop will last a lifetime.

Professional Solutions is a training and consultancy company in areas of professional development, HR training, professional solutions, and consultancy. Bringing together leading barristers chambers and expert speakers from the wider legal field, training events provide maximum benefit from a continuous professional development legal training programme suitable for lawyers, solicitors and barristers. All Professional Solutions training is CPD accredited by the Law Society and the Bar Council.

Progressive Legal Training provide regional training nationwide at over 30 locations. They plan over 1,000 courses each CPD year. You can search for courses online either by town, title or geographical or subject area. They offer a membership scheme and provide in house training courses at set prices.

SCL (The Society for Computers and Law) offers a range of CPD accredited courses on IT law, e-commerce, data protection and allied topics. The SCL Web site offers news and articles and access to recordings of meetings and seminars. SCL is an educational charity and its seminars, group meetings and conferences provide cost-effective training for those able to attend in person; all qualify for CPD. Discounted rates for attendance apply to SCL members. Membership costs £95 pa and members get free access to online courses based on podcasts of meetings and the SCL magazine content which enable them to gain 75% of their CPD requirement online.

Sheffield Law Society run a training programme on a wide variety of topics, available to both members & non-members.

Socrates Training provides know how materials for law firms, including CPD accredited training on audio CDs and cassettes. They offer a pack on money laundering, comprising a compliance manual, forms and precedents, and up to 2 hours training on CDs and tapes. Launched in January 2004, the pack offers firms all they need to comply with the new money laundering regulations, in force 1 March 2004. The people behind Socrates are former Director of the London College of Law, Bernard George, and Frances Owen, former head of Business Law at the London College of Law.

Solicitors in Local Government Limited is a professional association which represents the 4,000 local government solicitors and trainees in England and Wales. It runs a network of 9 regional branches which provide networking and training opportunities through branch meetings and Special Interest Groups. Providing over 100 courses a year, LGG Training offers the local government lawyer all the practice updates, professional skills and practice management training they will need.

Standing Conference of Mediation Advocates (SCMA) provides in-house and open training in mediation representation and advocacy for lawyers and others, negotiation skills, and mediation awareness. It is an accredited provider of advocacy courses to the Bar Standards Board, ILEX and RICS-DRS Life Long Learning.

Stubb Legal is an accredited distance learning course provider, supplying audio cassettes to solicitors which recount all the latest legal developments. An audio recording is brought out in each of six different areas, every other month, summarising all the legal developments which have occurred. Areas covered include Civil Litigation, Commercial, Family, Property/Probate, Criminal and General Practice. Each audio recording is approximately 1 hour long, and therefore worth 1 CPD point. A free sample audio cassette can be obtained on request.

Sweet and Maxwell offers a series of CPD accredited conferences and events covering a wide range of subjects - from criminal law and human rights to planning, personal injury and professional negligence. Speakers are frequently leading figures in the legal profession or authors of the company's major legal texts. Take the link to Conferences.

The Law Report is a new service available from Russell Jones & Walker providing a series of 30 minute podcast interviews with key legal, political and business figures. As well as covering core legal matters, it is intended that these will enable legal professionals to enhance their knowledge of the wider issues affecting law businesses. Initial episodes include interviews with Peter Williamson, chair of the Solicitors Regulation Authority and Lord Whitty, chair of the National Consumer Council, and a discussion on the latest developments in discrimination law. CPD accreditation will shortly be available for these podcasts.

The Solicitors Coach is a company set up by Kate Tingey (Solicitor), to provide Law Society and ILEX Accredited Training and Coaching for Solicitors and Legal Executives, in Milton Keynes & Surrounding Areas. Topics covered include how to increase Fee Income, mprove overall performance and market the Firm more effectively.

Web4law are a specialist risk and quality consultancy that have recently succeeded in gaining the Law Society training contract for training in the new Lexcel scheme. The company has also prepared the forthcoming revision to the Law Society's office procedures manual due out in April. The company's money laundering training consists of a two hour session for fee earners with a shorter equivalent for support staff. The training is accompanied by a CD PowerPoint programme for use in future induction meetings and for those who miss the session. A team of five presenters are available to deliver the course.

Wiki Mental Health now provides a CPD scheme
Wiki Mental Health is an internet resource on mental health law in England & Wales, primarily for mental health practitioners, to which anyone can contribute. There are three sections to this website:
i) Caselaw; regularly updated commentaries on the cases, with links to the full text judgments on Bailii. (Bailii contains nearly every judgment, but no specific commentary.)
ii) Legislation; The full text of, and a simple and up-to-date commentary on, the Mental Health Act 1983, the Mental Capacity Act 2005, and related legislation.
iii) General articles to explain the concepts and terminology used in the caselaw and legislation sections and practical guidance for lawyers.
The site has been set up by a mental health solicitor. There is now also a SRA-accredited CPD scheme based on the information on the site. Each month there is a multiple-choice questionnaire based on the updates made to the site that month. The CPD scheme is £50 per annum, and can earn a solicitor 12 points.

Xpl Professional Skills Training provides bespoke in-house advocacy, procedural and professional and management skills training for lawyers. It specialises in written advocacy, effective persuasion and negotiation, mediation and other ADR, appellate and tribunal advocacy, time-management, client relations, delegation and appraisal. Clients include Herbert Smith, Norton Rose, Lovells and Burges Salmon; and through Mitchell LC, Allen & Overy.

Note to training organisations:
* If you have a page on the web and would like a signpost here (free of charge), send me a message: email delia@venables.co.uk

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