Singapore Lawyers CPD: The Legislated Escalation to 16 Points by 2028

Singapore is the only CPD scheme in this library running a legislated multi-year escalation. The requirement is written into a schedule year by year through to 2028, and it rises every January for everyone except the most junior practitioners. A senior lawyer who owed 4 points in 2024 will owe 16 in 2028.

This guide works through the Legal Profession (Continuing Professional Development) Rules 2012 (No. S 115), current version as at 30 October 2026. The escalation was introduced by amendment S 919/2024 with effect from 1 January 2025.

How the requirement is calculated

Rule 9(1) sets two variables for solicitors: the number of years' standing on 1 January in the calendar year, and the period in that year during which a practising certificate is in force. Those two read across to the First Schedule, which gives the minimum points.

The CPD year runs from 1 January to 31 December, and the requirement for a year must be met by 31 December of that year.

There are three seniority bands — less than 5 years' standing, 5 to 15, and more than 15 — and three certificate-period bands: more than 8 months, more than 5 months up to 8 months, and 5 months or less. Five months or less carries no requirement at all.

The escalation, for solicitors with a certificate in force more than 8 months

Figures are total points, with the minimum that must come from accredited activities in brackets:

• 2017 to 2024 — under 5 years: 16 (8) · 5 to 15 years: 8 (4) · over 15 years: 4 (2)
• 2025 — under 5: 16 (8) · 5 to 15: 10 (5) · over 15: 7 (3.5)
• 2026 — under 5: 16 (8) · 5 to 15: 13 (6.5) · over 15: 10 (5)
• 2027 — under 5: 16 (8) · 5 to 15: 16 (8) · over 15: 13 (6.5)
• 2028 and subsequent years — all three bands: 16 (8)

So the scheme is converging on a single standard. Junior practitioners have always been at 16; the mid band reaches it in 2027 and the senior band in 2028. For a firm with a partner-heavy structure, the cumulative increase is substantial and entirely foreseeable — it is in the schedule.

The middle certificate band, more than 5 months up to 8 months, is set at half the full figure throughout: 8 (4) for juniors, 5 (2.5) then 6.5 (3.5) then 8 (4) for the mid band, and so on.

The mandatory category, new from 2025

From calendar year 2025 the First Schedule adds two further columns. For any solicitor with a certificate in force more than 8 months, regardless of seniority band:

• 3 points must come from CPD activities under mandatory categories
• of which 1.5 points must come from accredited activities under those mandatory categories

These figures are flat across all five Parts of the Schedule — 3 and 1.5 in 2025 and in 2028 alike. Note that the middle certificate band carries zero mandatory-category points, so a lawyer holding a certificate for six months has no mandatory-category obligation.

The mandatory category itself is designated by the Institute rather than by the Rules. The Singapore Institute of Legal Education has issued Guidelines on Mandatory Category of CPD Activity (Ethics And Professional Standards Activities) 2024, so ethics and professional standards is the designated category.

Foreign practitioners are on the same journey

Rule 9(2) and the Second Schedule cover foreign lawyers registered under section 36B of the Legal Profession Act. There are no seniority bands — only the certificate period — and the escalation runs a year ahead of the senior solicitor band:

• 2017 to 2024 — 8 points (4 accredited)
• 2025 — 10 (5), plus 3 (1.5) mandatory category
• 2026 — 13 (6.5), plus 3 (1.5)
• 2027 and subsequent years — 16 (8), plus 3 (1.5)

A firm staffing a Singapore office with foreign-registered lawyers should be budgeting for 16 points each from 2027.

Accredited and private points

The Rules distinguish accredited CPD activities from other CPD activities, and the Schedules set a minimum for the accredited portion — consistently half the total. Accredited activities appear in the Institute's Calendar of Accredited Learning Activities (CALAS); the Institute describes points from other sources, such as in-house seminars and reviewing multimedia or internet-based materials, as private CPD points.

That 50% accredited floor is the planning constraint. At 16 points from 2028, eight of them must come from activities the Institute has accredited, which is a materially larger accredited-content requirement than any band faces today.

Where the conversion rates live — and why this guide does not state them

Rule 14 empowers the Institute to issue guidelines that, among other things, specify the types of qualifying and non-qualifying activities and "for each type of CPD activity, the manner in which the number of CPD points which may be obtained by undertaking that type of CPD activity is to be calculated", and designate mandatory activities or categories.

So the points-per-hour conversion and any caps on particular activity types are set in the Institute's guidelines, not in the Rules. The operative instruments the Institute names are the Guidelines on the Continuing Professional Development Scheme 2017 and the 2024 mandatory category guidelines, with the detail held on its CPD Centre. Anyone planning a training calendar needs those guidelines, not just the Schedule — and this guide does not invent the rates.

Records: three years, and only for what you rely on

Rule 10(1) requires every solicitor and foreign practitioner to maintain a record of CPD activities undertaken in each calendar year, and for each activity such evidence as the Institute specifies in guidelines. Rule 10(2) requires both to be kept for 3 years after 31 December of the year concerned.

Rule 10(3) carries a sensible limitation that most schemes lack: the record and evidence obligations do not apply to an activity the practitioner does not rely on to satisfy the rule 9 requirement. Training done for its own sake does not create a filing obligation.

Waivers: statutory declaration and interview powers

Rule 12 governs non-compliance, and it is framed around applying for a waiver. The application goes to the Director, in the form and manner and within the period the Director requires, with such documents as the Director requires.

The Director's powers are unusually strong. Under rule 12(2) the Director may require the applicant to provide further evidence, to depose to facts by statutory declaration, and to attend an interview. The application is then referred to the Compliance Committee, which may grant a full or partial waiver subject to conditions, or extend time.

A statutory declaration and an interview are a long way from the written-application-and-grounds model used in Australia or Scotland. The Rules do not list grounds at all — no parental leave, illness or part-time limb — which means the Compliance Committee's discretion is the whole of it.

Separately, the Institute publishes year-specific extension advisories: it issued an Enhanced Extension Waiver and an Extension Waiver for CPD Year 2025 for lawyers unable to meet that year's requirement by 31 December 2025. Those are administrative advisories rather than rules, and their terms sit on the Institute's CPD Centre.

Three things to plan for

First, budget for the escalation. It is legislated, not proposed. Mid-band lawyers hit 16 points in 2027 and the senior band in 2028, and foreign practitioners in 2027.

Second, the accredited half grows with the total. Eight accredited points per lawyer per year from 2028 is the number to plan procurement around, and accredited means on CALAS.

Third, check whether anyone is relying on the mandatory category being satisfied by general training. It is a designated ethics and professional standards category with its own 3-point and 1.5-point accredited minimums, and it applies only to those holding a certificate for more than eight months.

Structurally this is closest to nothing else in the region. New Zealand runs a flat ten hours with a reflective plan; Singapore runs a seniority-banded points table with a legislated ramp and a 50% accredited floor. For the licensing side of Singapore financial and legal practice, see our guide to the CMFAS examinations, and for structured development, our CPD programmes.

Sources and limits: written from the Legal Profession (Continuing Professional Development) Rules 2012, current version as at 30 October 2026 on Singapore Statutes Online, including the First and Second Schedules, and the Singapore Institute of Legal Education's CPD page (last updated 19 July 2025). The Institute's Guidelines on the Continuing Professional Development Scheme 2017, its 2024 mandatory category guidelines, the CALAS listing and the CPD Year 2025 extension advisories were not read — so points-per-activity conversion rates, caps, the declaration mechanics under rule 8 and the verification process under rule 11 are not set out here. General information about published rules, not legal advice.