Legal CPD Training in Ireland & UK: The Complete Guide

CPD for legal professionals in Ireland and the UK isn't one system — it's three, and they work quite differently depending on which regulator you answer to. This guide brings together everything Learnsignal has published on legal CPD, organised by regulator and by role, so you can go straight to what applies to you.

Solicitors in Ireland: the Law Society's CPD cycle

Solicitors regulated by the Law Society of Ireland currently operate within a three-year cycle (2024–2026), but the requirement is tracked annually: 25 hours of CPD a year, with minimums inside that total — at least 5 hours on professional development and solicitor wellbeing, and at least 3 hours on client care and professional standards. Compliance partners and sole practitioners need a further hour on accounting and anti-money laundering compliance. Senior practitioners have a reduced annual requirement of 8 hours, with the same category minimums applying.

There are format limits too: no more than 7 hours can be completed in a single day, at least 20% must be group study, and eLearning and published writing are each capped at a share of the total. Newly admitted solicitors, and those on parental leave, on sick leave, or working part-time, can have their requirement adjusted.

For the full breakdown, read Law Society of Ireland CPD Requirements: The 25-Hour Cycle Explained.

Solicitors in England & Wales: the SRA's continuing competence model

The SRA doesn't set a fixed number of CPD hours at all. Instead, solicitors work through an outcomes-focused cycle: reflect on the quality of your practice across technical knowledge, client relationships and ethics; identify specific learning gaps; plan and address them; record what you did; and evaluate whether it actually improved your competence. At certificate renewal, you declare that you've kept your understanding of your legal, ethical and regulatory obligations up to date, and that you've reflected on and addressed your learning needs.

That shift — from counting hours to demonstrating competence — trips people up if they're used to a fixed-hours system. The mechanics are covered in SRA Continuing Competence Explained: What Solicitors Actually Need to Do.

Barristers: the Bar Standards Board's two-tier system

Barristers face a genuine split depending on experience. In your first three calendar years after pupillage — the New Practitioner Programme — there's a fixed requirement: a minimum of 45 hours of CPD across the three years, including at least 9 hours of advocacy training and at least 3 hours of ethics.

Once you move into the Established Practitioner Programme, the BSB drops the prescribed hours entirely. Instead you prepare a written CPD plan, keep records of what you complete, document your reflection, retain records for three years, and submit an annual declaration. CPD is expected to be proportionate to how much you're practising, which matters if you're part-time or returning after a break.

More detail in Bar Standards Board CPD Requirements for Barristers.

Beyond the hours: what law firms actually need to train for

Regulatory CPD is only part of the picture. The training that actually protects a firm — and comes up in SRA and Law Society enforcement action — tends to sit outside the formal CPD count: anti-money laundering obligations, sanctions screening, source of funds and source of wealth checks on new clients, and the accounts rules governing client money.

If you handle client funds, SRA Accounts Rules and Client Money Controls Explained and AML Training Requirements for Solicitors and Law Firms are the two guides worth starting with — both cover obligations that apply regardless of which regulator's CPD hours you're tracking.

Choosing CPD that actually counts

Whichever regulator you answer to, the same practical questions come up every cycle: does this course count as verifiable CPD, does it fit the category minimums that apply to you, and can you show — not just claim — that it addressed a real gap in your practice. Keeping a simple, contemporaneous record as you go is far less painful than reconstructing a year of learning the week before a declaration is due.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need 25 hours of CPD if I'm a solicitor in the UK?
No — the 25-hours-a-year requirement is specific to the Law Society of Ireland. The SRA uses an outcomes-based model with no fixed hour count, and the Bar Standards Board only sets fixed hours for barristers in their first three years of practice.

Does AML training count towards my CPD hours?
It depends on your regulator and how the course is structured and verified — check the specific category rules that apply to your cycle rather than assuming.

What happens if I don't meet my CPD requirement?
Each regulator handles shortfalls differently, from a formal warning through to compliance action — it's a live regulatory risk, not just an administrative one, so it's worth addressing a shortfall as soon as you spot it rather than at renewal.

Learnsignal is building a dedicated Legal CPD library to bring this together in one place, with content tracked against each regulator. Join the waitlist to be first in when it launches.