Specialist Accreditation Conference, 13 and 14 August

Two days, five streams, advanced CPD pitched at accredited specialists rather than at the general practitioner topping up units.

The Profession Press · Editorial

Specialist Accreditation Conference, 13 and 14 August

The Law Society of NSW holds its Specialist Accreditation Conference on Thursday 13 and Friday 14 August 2026, delivering advanced CPD across five dedicated streams organised by area of law.

This is not a units-clearing exercise, and the distinction matters. Most CPD is designed for a room containing every level of experience, which means it is pitched to the least experienced person present. Specialist accreditation programming assumes competence and starts from there — the sessions can address the difficult margin of a practice area rather than re-explaining its foundations.

Why it is worth the two days

Specialist accreditation itself is having a quiet moment of renewed relevance. As AI tools compress the research and drafting layer of legal work, the value a practitioner offers shifts toward judgement — the part that cannot be prompted. Formal recognition of depth in a defined area is one of the few credentials the profession maintains that speaks directly to judgement rather than to time served.

For practitioners considering accreditation but not yet enrolled, the conference is the cheapest available look at what the standard actually requires. The sessions are the syllabus made visible.

Details

When: Thursday 13 and Friday 14 August 2026
Format: Five streams, advanced CPD
Host: The Law Society of NSW
Registration: Through the Law Society conferences page

Practitioners outside NSW should check reciprocal CPD recognition in their home jurisdiction before booking travel. Most schemes accept interstate content, but the point-allocation rules differ enough to catch people out.

On cost: two days of advanced CPD is a real expense for a small firm and a trivial one for a large practice, which is why the room at conferences like this skews toward practitioners whose employer pays without being asked. Sole practitioners and those in small partnerships should price it against the alternative — an equivalent volume of unstructured online CPD, purchased in fragments across the year, taught to a general audience, and forgotten within a fortnight. The comparison usually favours the two days.