Victorian Numbered Acts Victorian Numbered Acts(1) An Australian lawyer may apply to the Board for the grant or renewal of a local practising certificate if eligible to do so.
(2) An Australian lawyer is eligible to apply for the grant or renewal of a local practising certificate if the lawyer complies with any regulation relating to eligibility for the practising certificate and if—
(a) where the lawyer is not an Australian legal practitioner at the time of making the application—
(i) the lawyer's place of residence in Australia is in this jurisdiction; or
(ii) the lawyer reasonably expects to be engaged in legal practice principally from this jurisdiction during the currency of the certificate applied for; or
(iii) the lawyer does not have a place of residence in Australia; or
(b) where the lawyer is an Australian legal practitioner at the time of making the application—
(i) the jurisdiction in which the lawyer engages in legal practice principally is this jurisdiction; or
(ii) the lawyer holds a current local practising certificate and engages in legal practice in another jurisdiction under an arrangement that is of a temporary nature; or
(iii) the lawyer reasonably expects to be engaged in legal practice principally in this jurisdiction during the currency of the certificate applied for; or
(iv) the lawyer's place of residence in Australia is in this jurisdiction; or
(v) the lawyer does not have a place of residence in Australia.
(3) For the purposes of sub-section (2)(b), the jurisdiction in which an Australian lawyer engages in legal practice principally is to be decided by reference to the lawyer's legal practice during the certificate period current at the time—
(a) the application is made; or
(b) in the case of a late
application—the application should have been made.
s. 2.4.8
(4) An Australian lawyer must not apply for the grant or renewal of a local practising certificate if the lawyer is not eligible to make the application.
(5) An Australian legal practitioner who engages in legal practice principally in this jurisdiction during a financial year and intends to engage in legal practice in the following year must apply for the grant or renewal of a local practising certificate in respect of the following financial year.
(6) Sub-section (5) does not apply to an interstate legal practitioner who applied for the grant or renewal of an interstate practising certificate on the basis that—
(a) the practitioner reasonably expected to engage in legal practice principally in this jurisdiction under an arrangement that is of a temporary nature; or
(b) the practitioner reasonably expected to engage in legal practice principally in another jurisdiction during the currency of the interstate practising certificate.
(7) Sub-section (5) does not apply to a local legal practitioner who applied for the grant of an interstate practising certificate on the basis that the practitioner reasonably expected to engage in legal practice principally in the other jurisdiction during the currency of the interstate practising certificate.
(8) The exemption provided by sub-section (6)(a) ceases to operate at the end of the period prescribed by the regulations for the purposes of this sub-section.
(9) Contravention of this section by an Australian lawyer is capable of constituting unsatisfactory professional conduct or professional misconduct.