The Victorian Legal Admissions Board is a statutory body which performs functions associated with the admission of lawyers in Victoria in accordance with the Legal Profession Uniform Law Application Act 2014 (External link).
ADMISSION CEREMONIES
Admissions Calendar 2024 (External link)
The last two ceremonies of the year are scheduled for Tuesday 19 November and Tuesday 10 December.
You will not be booked into an admission until all of the required documents and payment have been received by the Board.
Each ceremony will have up to 50 applicants. Applicants must have only one mover and two guests. Guest numbers are to be strictly adhered to and any additional guests will not be accommodated.
Admission times are 9.30am, 11.30am and 2.30pm but subject to change at short notice.
The link to the live stream will be available on https://www.supremecourt.vic.gov.au/about-the-court/multimedia-on-demand/court-ceremonies/admissions (External link) (External link)
MY EQUALS
Official academic transcripts should now be shared directly via the My eQuals platform. To do this, log in to your My eQuals account. Open the transcript and click Share.
Choose the option to share the document to an Organisation. In the Recipient field, search for Victorian Legal Admissions Board and click the Share button again to finalise.
You should see a message that confirms your documents have been delivered to the recipient.
Please be reminded that AHEGS and Testamur documents will not be accepted, the official academic transcript is required for all admission applications.
AUSTRALIA-UK FREE TRADE AGREEMENT
The Victorian Legal Admissions Board (VLAB) understands that the Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement (FTA) came into effect on 31 May 2023. The agreement contains commitments to reform legal services provisions and drive collaboration between regulators with the aim of addressing remaining barriers to practise as a local lawyer in the other country's territory.
The FTA did not have the effect of immediately introducing mutual recognition arrangements that will allow UK lawyers to be admitted as lawyers in Australia without having to undertake the usual application for admission that all foreign qualified lawyers are required to undertake under the various statutory regimes applicable in the various States and Territories of Australia.
Accordingly, at the present time there is no change to the process by which UK law qualifications are assessed in Victoria, and no change to the academic qualifications and practical legal training prerequisites for UK lawyers seeking admission to the Australian legal profession.
If there is any change to the process or the prerequisites, it will be notified on VLAB's website.
GUIDE FOR APPLICANTS FOR ADMISSION AS AN AUSTRALIAN LAWYER
Please read the Admission Guide (External link) before your start your application. The Guide sets out the information required to obtain a compliance certificate.
VLAB OFFICE
The office is open from 9.00am to 5.00pm
All documents relating to admission should be uploaded to your client portal as part of the admission process or forwarded to vlabdocuments@justice.vic.gov.au (External link)
Any enquiries relating to admission should be made to vlab@justice.vic.gov.au (External link)
Any enquiries relating to assessment or admission of foreign applicants should be made by overseas@justice.vic.gov.au (External link)
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Please refer to the FAQ section (External link) of our website to assist you with your enquiry.
VICTORIAN DRIVERS LICENCES UPDATE
As of 19th December 2022, if you are using a Victorian Driver's licence as part of your identity documents, you must also supply the card number. Without this, your ID will not verify and you will be asked to provide another form of acceptable ID. You can find the card number in your Vic Roads account or by contacting Vic Roads. https://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/ (External link)
WITNESSING DOCUMENTS IN PERSON OR VIA AUDIO VISUAL LINK
A full description of witnessing statutory declarations (External link) and affidavits (External link) can be found on the Department of Justice and Community Safety's website.
FEES
All fees are made through the Service Victoria payment portal. Payment can be made via Visa, Mastercard or PayPal.
Follow the Victorian Legal Admissions Board on Twitter for news and announcements! @VicLegalAdmin (External link)