Topping Up Stepping Up is a revision course for practitioners who have satisfactorily completed Stepping Up but have not commenced practice on their own account within the required two years.

If you have done Stepping Up, but have let the two-year window pass and now wish to commence practice on your own account, Topping Up Stepping Up is for you. It will give you another two years in which to enter practice, although there are some time limitations – see below.

You must apply to do Topping Up Stepping Up within three years of the expiry of achieving the Stepping Up qualification. If you do not begin Topping Up Stepping Up within that three-year period, you must repeat Stepping Up.

In Stepping Up, candidates read and assimilate a substantial amount of information, prepare answers to exercises and identify questions they want answered. At the two-and-a-half day workshop they learn from presentations, discussions with others and their own reflections.

Topping Up Stepping Up places a heavy emphasis on the candidate demonstrating that they have learned from and reflected upon their attendance at Stepping Up so that they remain prepared for commencing practice on own behalf. There is no face-to-face tuition. The candidate must complete the reading and work and send it to NZLS CLE within the time allowed (10 weeks of the materials being dispatched).

The work for the course includes reviewing the Stepping Up materials, completing a business plan, writing answers to four exercises and completing a test on trust acounting (barristers exempt). We expect that this work will take 10 to 20 hours to complete, after which it will be marked and commented upon.

Once the work is completed satisfactorily, you will then have two years to commence practice on your own account.

For more information and a registration form, see www.lawyerseducation.co.nz. If you have any inquiries, contact CLE – 0800 333 111 or cle@lawyerseducation.co.nz.

Jane Battersby is the course administrator for NZLS CLE’s Topping Up Stepping Up and Stepping Up courses.