Continuing Professional Development

Look out for the CPD symbol

In this article, Mercy Adetunji explains the purpose of the new CPD symbol, and how members can associate this with tips to help log their CPD to meet compliance.

About the author
Mercy Adetunji is a practice and membership support officer at CILEx.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is a requirement for CILEx members, starting from Associates and continuing to Fellows and Practitioners. This is intended to maintain, improve and extend the skills necessary for the performance of professional legal duties.

The CPD cycle begins each year, on 1 October, and ends on 30 September the following year. Members must complete CPD in alignment with their grade requirement to achieve compliance with CILEx Regulation.

As the new practice and membership support officer, one of my functions is to assist members through their journey, and I am keen to help you meet compliance. As a result, a CPD symbol has been created to help you achieve compliance on time. The symbol will be coupled with content to help you reflect, plan, act and evaluate. The symbol appears in weekly CILEx newsletters, Fact Friday, Tip Tuesday and our very own CILEx Journal.

Turn to page 30 of this issue to view an example of an unplanned activity. This is where you were unable to plan the learning outcome of what might appear in the Journal. However, the activity of reading the article was a benefit to you, because it informed you about the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

If you would like to learn more about GDPR, you could also make this the focus of your professionalism learning outcome by conducting legal research on the introduction of the new GDPR rules. You would have then used this subject to complete two activities to satisfy your CPD outcomes and/or hours.

One of the important tips we offer is to log your CPD as you go along. We have found that once members log their CPD as they complete their activities, there is a higher chance of achieving compliance by 30 September; so, ‘Don’t forget to log it!’

The activities that can be used for CPD are not exclusive to the symbol, but rather a guide providing you with examples of what can be used to satisfy your CPD requirements. The activities you undertake must remain relevant to your membership grade. So, remember to stop and ask the question: ‘Is this activity relevant to my grade?’.

There are many materials that can be used for CPD, such as E-learning short courses on myCareer, your academic or professional study, coaching or mentoring, training by CILEx Regional Branches, and even in-house training by an employer.

To find out your grade requirements and further activities that can be used for CPD, visit CILEx CPD resource page at: https://www.cilex.org.uk/membership/cpd/cpd_resources.

Be sure to follow us on Instagram @CILExHQ to keep up with our Tip Tuesdays, Fact Fridays and information on CPD clinics.