| 1. | a commitment to continuing education and training is a defining characteristic of any profession; |
| 2. | learning is a life-long process; |
| 3. | legal professionals learn both through the day-to-day practice of law and through formal continuing professional development activities; |
| 4. | the legal profession as a whole has a collective responsibility to ensure its continuing professional development; and |
| 5. | the ultimate responsibility lies with the individual to meet his own continuing professional development needs. |
However, unplanned training activity is unlikely to bring maximum return on your training investment. This simple Guide is designed to provide basic assistance to legal professionals and those responsible for the training and development of legal professionals in their respective law practices, organisations, divisions or departments on best practices to get the most out of the time and money spent on continuing professional development activities.
In this stage, you should:
| 1. | Determine your career plan in terms of short (1 year), medium (3 years) and long (5 years) -term goals in consultation with your immediate supervisor; |
| 2. | Identify your training needs. One way to do this is to conduct a SWOT analysis to identify your Strengths & Weaknesses, as well as the Opportunities & Threats around you - You may wish to use our sample Training Needs Analysis Form as a starting point. This helps you pinpoint where you are NOW, and where you hope to be at some point in the future. Remember that even if you have done a Training Needs Analysis at some earlier point in your career, your work and personal circumstances may have changed and it may be time to conduct another analysis; |
| 3. | Prioritize your needs; and |
| 4. | Identify the methods & activities available to meet these needs. |
Once the Training Needs Analysis is completed, use our
sample CPD Plan template to
prioritise your training needs and set out clearly how you aim to
get from where you are now to where you hope to be.
It is good to keep a Training Record to monitor how well you have
implemented your training plan. Check out our
sample CPD
Record for your use.
The best laid plans are useless if not acted upon. The next move is yours – acting upon the CPD Plan you have mapped out. Identify and sign up for the types of activities you want to embark upon. There are a variety of seminars, workshops and other courses offered by the Law Society – check them out here. In addition, there are also programmes offered by the Singapore Academy of Law, the National University of Singapore and other commercial providers.
After attending training, it is vital that you put what is learnt into practice so that this results in tangible improvements in the way you work and in the knowledge you apply at work and ultimately, in the performance and profitability of your employer!
It is possible to evaluate training at 4 levels:
| 1. | Reaction – what do you think & feel after the training event? |
| 2. | Learning – what knowledge have you acquired from the training? |
| 3. |
Behaviour – how are you applying the training received? |
| 4. | Results – how has the performance of your organization/team been enhanced or improved as a result of your training? |
In line with the above 4 levels, we recommend that you evaluate:
| 1. | The training provided (including the event organization, course objectives, speakers/trainers/instructors) - this has the added advantage of providing the organizer with input on how participants responded to the programme and how to improve; |
| 2. | Yourself, before and after the training; & |
| 3. | Your organization or team, if possible. |
Of course, what you learn after evaluating yourself and your
organisation would then lead you to fine-tune and adjust your CPD
Plan. Back to Step 1!
We hope this brief Guide has been of some assistance to you. Should
you have feedback or suggestions for the CPD Department, please do
not hesitate to contact us.
June Tan
Director, Training & Continuing Professional Development
May 2004