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Remote supervision arrangements

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If you are a lawyer subject to a supervised legal practice condition you can be supervised remotely, however different rules apply.

Remote supervision during COVID-19

At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we introduced a requirement for supervised lawyers to enter into an agreed remote supervision plan with their supervisor. When applying to have the supervised legal practice condition removed from their practising certificate, supervised lawyers were required to submit a copy of their supervision plan to us.

As remote working arrangements become more common, we no longer require lawyers to provide us with a copy of their remote supervision plan, when applying to have the supervised legal practice condition removed from their practising certificate.

We still encourage supervised lawyers to enter into an agreed remote supervision plan with their supervisor, however, this is not a requirement and we do not need to review a copy of the supervision plan. 

 

Where you and your supervisor are employed by different entities

If you are a lawyer subject to a supervised legal practice condition you can be supervised remotely, however different rules apply.

If you are a supervised lawyer and your supervisor is employed by a different entity, we must approve a remote supervision arrangement before you start this supervision. The onus is on the supervised lawyer to apply to us for that approval first.

Considerations for remote supervision

When planning a remote supervision arrangement, you must consider: 

  • the logistics of contact, how regular one-on-one meetings will be conducted and how you can contact your supervisor at all other times
  • how your supervisor will manage your workflow if they’re not employed in the same law practice or are based in a different location
  • how correspondence and advice will be reviewed and feedback provided to you as well as the frequency of this review and feedback
  • how your supervisor will access files and documents to review all your legal work. You must carefully consider issues of client confidentiality
  • your supervisors experience in the areas of legal practice you will be working in.

We will consider whether the proposed remote supervision arrangement is adequate and in line with our policy.

If we approve your remote supervision arrangement we strongly recommend that all of your engagement letters to clients clearly state that you’re engaging in supervised legal practice and include your supervisor’s contact details.

Application for approval of a remote supervision arrangement

Please provide us with a remote supervision proposal, setting out the supervision that will be provided. The proposal should confirm the supervisor will have authority in respect of all legal work performed and will be able to direct, amend, override or intervene. You should demonstrate in your application how you will address any administrative obstacles.

You can access a template remote supervision proposal here.

Please send your proposal to us via the lawyer enquiry form, selecting 'Supervised legal practice' as the category. 

 

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