The Federation of Community Legal Centres offers staff and volunteers at our Member Community Legal Centres opportunities to develop their professional skills throughout the year. We offer diverse training sessions in areas including climate justice, cultural safety, finance, governance, leadership, management, media, and mental health first aid through trusted facilitators.
The Federation appreciates feedback from members as we gauge interest in new sessions of proven training offerings, or to flag new training areas for us to investigate.
Below you will find out how to keep up-to-date with training announcements, training details and upcoming sessions.
Training Communications
If you would like to be kept informed of upcoming learning and development opportunities, please email [email protected] with your name, your CLC, and your contact details.
Those on this list will be assured of hearing about new training sessions as soon as they are announced.
Who can attend?
Most training sessions offered by the Federation are for Federation members only. If you are a staff member, board member, committee of management member, volunteer, or student placement (PLT) at a Community Legal Centre, you are welcome to join our training sessions.
Occasionally, we have the capacity to extend the invitation to additional participants outside the Victorian community legal sector.
CPD Points
Whilst the Federation’s diverse training program contains sessions relevant for more than just the legal staff at Community Legal Centres, many of the training sessions can count towards the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements for Victorian lawyers. Attendance will be recorded by the Federation to ensure all details are noted for any CPD reporting.
CPD obligations are regulated by the Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner and their CPD information for lawyers can be found on this page of their website.
CPD Event 2025
The Federation will deliver its annual CPD Event between 17—28 March 2025.
Sessions will be presented by Federation members and other interested professionals at 2pm each event day.
This is a wonderful opportunity for members to attend sessions of interest, or to share their findings and experiences with peers as a presenter.
Expressions of Interest – Now Open
We are calling for Expressions of Interest (EOIs) to present at this event. We are not prescriptive about topics when we open for EOIs but each year we strive to offer sessions addressing all four CPD areas:
- Ethics & Professional Responsibility
- Practice Management and Business Skills
- Professional Skills
- Substantive Law
EOI application form
EOIs should be submitted using the EOI form found here and attached.
EOI closing date
EOIs should be emailed to Gabby Talmadge via [email protected] by 6pm Tuesday 28 January 2025.
In your application, please provide information that will help the EOI review committee understand your session and how it could fit into the program, and that can be used to promote your session. Please include a descriptive title and a description of your session’s content (in the ‘Brief Overview’ section).
Reflections on successful sessions
While applicants are encouraged to present sessions in their own style, below are some considerations for presenting impactful and informative sessions:
- Clarity of structure – laying out information clearly in a way that support key points.
- Pace – leaving sufficient time to allow information to be presented in an unhurried fashion.
- Q&A – leaving time for attendees to ask questions.
- Support materials – providing materials after the session so attendees have a resource to learn from and refer to after the session.
Sessions will not be recorded
Please note that, as with most of the Federation’s training, these CPD Event sessions will not be recorded, as we have found that recording a session can result in lower attendance rate and reduced participation.
