Prerequisites and Professional Obligations

Prerequisites and professional obligations

To be eligible to practise as a barrister in Western Australia you must:

• be admitted to the Supreme Court of Western Australia (or an interstate jurisdiction)
• have satisfied the supervised legal practice condition; and
• hold a current practising certificate with a condition “to engage in legal practice as or in the manner of a barrister only”.

Practising Certificates

The Legal Practice Board (LPB) has statutory responsibility for the issue of annual practising certificates to all legal practitioners, including barristers.

Further information about practising certificates is available here.

Interstate Practitioners

Under the Uniform Law, an Australian Legal Practitioner is entitled to engage in legal practice in Western Australia.  That entitlement is subject to requirements under the Uniform Law and Rules and the conditions of the practitioner’s Australian practising certificate.

Further information about interstate practitioners wishing to engage in legal practice in Western Australia is available here.

Overseas Applicants

Applicants who have been admitted to practise or qualified overseas are required to apply to the LPB for assessment of their eligibility for admission to practice in Western Australia.

Further information about applying for assessment is available here.

Professional Indemnity Insurance

The Uniform Law s 210(1)(b)(i) provides as follows:

Approved insurance policy

(1)   For the purposes of this Part, a policy of professional indemnity insurance is an approved insurance policy for [WA] if – …

(b)   it –

(i) complies with the minimum standards specified in the Uniform Rules for the purposes of this section.