Multiple Jurisdiction CPD and CLE Credit
As a lawyer, time is money. Given all lawyers have a requirement for continuing professional development in the form of CPD or CLE points, and many lawyers in Hong Kong are admitted in multiple jurisdictions, why not maximize your time spent training?
Legal Beagle Limited is a Hong Kong based e-learning company focusing on providing lawyers with high quality, convenient and affordable legal training. All of Legal Beagle’s courses are fully accredited by the Law Society of Hong Kong for CPD and/or RME points required of every Solicitor, Registered Foreign Lawyer and Trainee Solicitor in Hong Kong.
Here’s the clever hack: Many jurisdictions outside of Hong Kong recognize courses accredited by the Law Society of Hong Kong as acceptable for credit in their own jurisdictions. Therefore, a course taken once for a Solicitor admitted in Hong Kong and New York could be counted in both jurisdictions as a point in each jurisdiction. When a Registered Foreign Lawyer (RFL) admitted in California and New York takes an RME accredited course in Hong Kong required of her, she receives credit for that course in Hong Kong, California and New York.
How is this possible?
In New York and California, courses accredited by the Law Society of Hong Kong are granted reciprocity under MCLE rules. While no HKLS accredited provider in Hong Kong can claim New York or California accreditation, due to the approved jurisdiction policies of these states, lawyers are able to use their Legal Beagle certificate of completion for their New York or California MCLE requirements. What about your ethics, skills or diversity credits? New York specifically puts the onus on the lawyer in deciding which course meets each requirement when claiming credit from a reciprocal jurisdiction, so check your requirements and contact us if you have any questions.
England & Wales, Singapore, New South Wales, Victoria and New Zealand are slightly different with respect to Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements. These jurisdictions, generally speaking, leave it to the lawyer to decide whether his or her learning activities qualify for local CPD credit. Links are embedded in this blog so you can click and follow the rules for each jurisdiction. Legal Beagle is not an accredited provider in these jurisdictions and neither is any other e learning company in Hong Kong. However, our customers have been satisfied that the high quality legal e-learning meets the content requirements in these jurisdictions.
When you register as a user with Legal Beagle, you have the option to tick whether you are admitted to the following jurisdictions in addition to Hong Kong as a Solicitor or Registered Foreign Lawyer: New York, California, England & Wales, Singapore, New South Wales, Victoria and New Zealand. When you complete a course, Legal Beagle’s system will generate a separate email with instructions on how to claim credit in each jurisdiction for your own record keeping. We are the only e-learning company in Hong Kong with this capability as we know that being admitted in several jurisdictions is the norm today.
For more information on Legal Beagle’s courses, corporate billing arrangements, or other offerings, please contact Tina on tina@legalbeagle.com.hk