18.2 CPD Requirements, Practice Absences/Powers of Attorney & Succession/Contingency Planning

CPD Requirements, Practice Absences & Succession Planning

Beyond serving individual clients well, a paralegal must keep their own competence current and plan for the disruptions, such as illness, injury, or worse, that could otherwise leave clients unprotected. This section covers the Law Society's Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirement and the client contingency and succession planning obligations that apply to every licensee in private practice.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

Every practising lawyer and paralegal must complete at least 12 CPD Hours in Eligible Educational Activities each calendar year.

Professionalism Hours cover topics such as professional responsibility, ethics, and practice management, and because these hours must be accredited, a licensee should confirm a program's accreditation status before relying on it to satisfy the requirement. Substantive Hours cover legal or procedural content relevant to the licensee's practice and do not need Law Society accreditation, though the activity must still be genuinely educational; time spent reviewing a specific client file or work product does not qualify.

Deadlines and Consequences

A licensee who fails to complete and record the required CPD Hours is subject to administrative suspension of their licence. CPD is a hard licensing condition, not an optional professional-development nicety.

Mentoring as CPD

Mentoring, as either mentor or mentee, can count toward CPD, up to a maximum of 12 hours per year, covering discussion of substantive or procedural law or practice management topics. If a licensee claims all 12 CPD hours through mentoring, at least 3 of those hours must still be accredited Professionalism Hours. Time spent discussing a specific client's file or reviewing work product is not eligible for CPD hours.

Planning for Practice Absences

Paralegals must plan for both short, foreseeable absences, such as vacation or parental leave, and sudden, unplanned absences from accident, sudden illness, incapacity, or death. Sound absence planning typically includes:

• Arranging coverage: another licensee who can monitor the tickler/limitations system, respond to urgent client matters, and access files during the absence.
• Redirecting phone, mail, and email so client communications are not missed.
• Granting the covering person or administrator the legal authority needed to act. Most importantly, a Continuing Power of Attorney for Property drafted specifically for the practice lets that person access trust and general bank accounts, sign cheques, and deal with the office if the paralegal becomes incapacitated.

Mandatory Client Contingency Plans (By-Law 7.1)

Since January 1, 2025, every lawyer and paralegal in private practice must maintain a written client contingency plan under By-Law 7.1, appointing one or more licensees as Administrator(s). At minimum, the plan must require the Administrator to:

1. Notify the Law Society's Trustee Services Department and the licensee's professional liability insurer as soon as possible after learning the licensee has stopped practising, temporarily or permanently, because of illness, disability, death, or other sudden absence.
2. Advise existing clients that the licensee can no longer continue their retainer, and either arrange transfer of the client's file and property, including trust funds, to another licensee, or arrange its return to the client.
3. Where trust funds are involved, attempt to access the trust account(s) to return or transfer trust money as the client directs.

The plan must be reviewed at least annually and kept current, and compliance is reported to the Law Society through the Annual Report process. A contingency plan is a floor, not a full succession solution: it exists only to protect clients' immediate interests, not to preserve the value or continuity of the practice itself.

Succession Planning Beyond the Minimum

The Law Society strongly encourages licensees to go further than the bare contingency-plan minimum by building a succession plan: an arrangement, ideally made early in the life of the practice, that gives a chosen Successor, who may be the same person as the contingency-plan Administrator, enough information and authority to continue, transition, or sell the practice rather than simply winding it down. A workable succession plan typically:

• Documents office systems, active and closed file lists, retention policies, and practice-management systems the Successor will need.
• Confirms the Successor's authority to access financial accounts, through a Continuing Power of Attorney, Will provisions, or another legal instrument, and the scope of that authority.
• Is coordinated with the licensee's personal Will and Powers of Attorney, since referencing the appointed Administrator or Successor in those personal documents helps ensure the authority is legally recognized when it matters most.

Exam tip: Distinguish the mandatory contingency plan, with three narrow Administrator duties of notify, advise clients, and return or transfer property, from the broader, encouraged-but-not-mandatory succession plan, which addresses continuing or selling the practice itself.

Key Takeaways

• CPD requires 12 hours per year: at least 3 accredited Professionalism Hours, including at least 1 EDI hour, plus up to 9 Substantive Hours, completed by December 31 and reported by March 31.
• Failing to complete and record CPD Hours triggers administrative suspension of the licence.
• Mentoring can supply up to 12 CPD hours per year, but at least 3 must still be accredited Professionalism Hours if claiming the full 12 through mentoring.
• Since January 1, 2025, every private-practice licensee must maintain a written, annually reviewed client contingency plan under By-Law 7.1 with a named Administrator.
• A contingency plan only protects clients' immediate interests through notification, client advice, and property return; a fuller succession plan, paired with a practice-specific Continuing Power of Attorney and personal estate documents, is needed to actually continue or sell a practice.