Live Webinar: 3 CPD Compulsory Topics for Lawyers – Ethics, Professional Skills, Practice Management & Business Skills

This webinar comprises 3 one-hour sessions covering each of the compulsory CPD subjects for lawyers for the CPD year ending 31 March 2027.
 

Session 1: Ethics

Ethics Under Pressure: AI, Speed and the New Risks Facing Lawyers

Modern legal practice is faster, more digital and increasingly shaped by AI-assisted work. But many of the profession’s traditional ethical rules were not designed for instant drafting tools, blurred workplace boundaries and constant client accessibility. This session examines how everyday practice pressures are creating new ethical risks for lawyers and what you must do to manage them safely. It covers:

• Using generative AI for legal drafting and research: where does convenience become misconduct?
• Client confidentiality and privilege risks when using AI platforms, cloud-based systems and collaboration tools
• AI hallucinations, fabricated authorities and misleading content: who bears responsibility?
• The ethical dangers of rushed advice, compressed turnaround times and “urgent” client demands
• Supervision failures in hybrid workplaces and AI-assisted legal practice
• Text messages, WhatsApp and Teams chats: managing informal communications ethically
• Recent disciplinary trends involving technology misuse, poor supervision and communication failures
   

Session 2: Practice Management & Business Skills

Cybersecurity for Lawyers: Managing the Risks Before the Breach

It is not a question of whether you will face a cyber threat. It is a question of when, and whether you will be ready. Law firms are high-value targets: they hold sensitive client information, transfer funds, and often have less sophisticated security than the corporates and institutions they act for. Regulators, PI insurers and clients now expect lawyers to demonstrate more than basic awareness: they expect documented, practised preparedness. This session is built around a single scenario: a suspicious email arrives on a Friday afternoon. What happens next, and what should have been in place before it did, forms the thread running through the entire session. It covers:

• How phishing, ransomware and business email compromise actually work in a legal practice context — and why law firms are specifically targeted
• The confidentiality, privacy and professional conduct obligations triggered when client data is compromised
• What PI insurers are increasingly asking at renewal — and the gaps that leave firms exposed or underinsured
• Cybersecurity risks created by remote working, personal devices, cloud systems and collaboration tools
• Practical controls every firm should have: multi-factor authentication, access management, password security and staff awareness
• How to identify and respond to suspicious emails, scams and social engineering in real time
• Responding to an incident: immediate priorities, who to notify, and how to limit the damage
   

Session 3: Professional Skills

When the Conversation Goes Wrong: Communication Skills for High-Stakes Legal Practice

Communication failures are one of the most common triggers for client complaints and disciplinary referrals — yet lawyers receive little formal training in how to handle the conversations that matter most. This session moves beyond theory to give lawyers practical, immediately applicable techniques for managing the difficult interactions that arise every day in legal practice: the client who won't accept advice, the opponent who escalates, the colleague who pushes back, and the situation that is about to go off the rails. It covers:

• Managing clients with unrealistic expectations and difficult or impossible instructions, without losing the relationship or creating risk
• De-escalating emotionally charged conversations before they become complaints or conflicts
• Delivering unwelcome advice, bad outcomes and hard truths in a way clients can hear
• Handling aggressive, distressed or manipulative clients professionally and safely
• Communicating clearly under pressure — avoiding the reactive responses that make things worse
• Managing conflict and confrontation during negotiations, mediations and meetings
• Practical frameworks lawyers can apply immediately to improve outcomes and reduce professional risk