Practice Management Course

Our three day, face-to-face, intensive Practice Management Course (PMC) is an investment in your future. The focus of the PMC is to successfully transition you from employed solicitor to principal, prepare you for entering a partnership, starting your own firm as a sole practitioner or becoming an ILP Legal Practitioner Director. Completion of the PMC is a requirement for all practitioners who wish to obtain a Principal Practising Certificate.

Why do the PMC with QLS?

4.6/5 star delegate rated in 2019–due to excellent course content and outstanding presenters.
Access to experts on trust accounting, ethics and risk management - practical learning delivered by QLS in-house subject matter experts from the Trust Account Investigation Team and QLS Ethics and Practice Centre. Their content will strengthen your skills enabling you to transition from solicitor to principal seamlessly.
Superior ongoing support - members who have completed the QLS PMC can access ongoing professional support through our Practice Support and Trust Account Consultancies.
Exclusive session on wellbeing and resilience in the legal profession - designed by QLS’s Wellbeing Working Group to reduce mental health issues in the legal profession by increasing the skillsets of leaders to promote wellbeing and resilience in the workplace.
Leadership and personality profiling—internationally recognised Hogan Personality Inventory is covered in detail, which reviews individual leadership styles and development opportunities. You’ll graduate equipped with the communication tools to effectively manage staff and clients.
Interactive sessions tailored to varying practice sizes and structures—in this instance, size does matter and so we’ve tailored our content to your needs. We run sessions focused on sole practitioner to small practitioners and small practices, as well as medium and large practices.
Regional discount - to offset travel costs for regional members, we offer a discount of up to $700

To express your interest in registering for courses not yet open for registration, contact Events Management on 07 3842 5806 or events@qls.com.au and we will notify you when registrations open. For any queries please refer to our FAQ page.

Upcoming courses

Sole Practitioner to Small Practice Focus

Tailored for practitioners who currently practice in, or intend to practice in, a legal practice of less than 20 practising certificate holders.

7-9 May 2020
16-18 July 2020
22-24 October 2020
3-5 December 2020

Medium to Large Focus

Tailored for practitioners who currently practice in, or intend to practice in, a legal practice with 20 or more practising certificate holders.

26-28 March 2020
17-19 September 2020

To register your interest for a course in 2020, please email the QLS events team.

PMC fees

Cost	Distance from Brisbane GPO
$2,400	Standard within 180km
$2,100	Regional member 181-550km
$1,900	Regional member 551-1000km
$1,700	Regional member 1000+km

10 CPD points

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Workshop structure

Leadership and management styles

Leadership is a process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid of, and support others in, the accomplishment of a common task. Discuss the benefits of leadership and suggests approaches and behaviours that can help influence in the context of managing a legal practice.

Leading wellbeing in the workplace

Learn about the current state of wellbeing in the legal profession. Identify why the legal profession is particularly susceptible to mental health issues, develop a workplace framework to create a mentally healthy team and be equipped with the skillset to proactively support and assist it.

Managing people and difficult conversations

Review culture, staffing supervision, performance management and identify the critical skills and abilities that form the basis of effectively managing people in a legal practice.

Demystifying information technology

Explore the relationship between performance, productivity and competitive advantage in legal practice and how use of effective technology and knowledge can be combined and applied.

Business development and client service

Legal practice marketing and business development is becoming increasingly more ambitious, competitive and sophisticated. Understand how marketing and business development can support legal practices, and common marketing activities and selling techniques that are used.

Client perceptions of the quality of client service have a dramatic impact on client retention, referrals, justifying fee levels, fee recovery, cash flow and profitability. Learn the skills to deliver excellent client service in terms of personal skills, practice systems and culture.

Risk and compliance

Learn how to implement systems and procedures to ensure critical issues and processes are implemented to protect your legal practice.

Business planning

This unit explores the process of business planning and determining a business model and strategy with practice goals and objectives in mind.

Practice finance

Effective finance management requires planning, monitoring, control and discipline. This unit provides a framework for the development of practice budgets and discussion of Key Performance Indicators and the importance of managing practice cash flow.

Costs and billing

The effective management of costs and billing is critical to ensuring client satisfaction and practice profitability. Look at costs as a compliance issue, and focus on best practice approaches to communication, management and administration.

Trusts

This unit provides a framework for the competent management of trust and office account records involving basic bookkeeping procedures and the responsibility of solicitors to account for money received on behalf of others.

Trust accounting exam

Ethics

Solicitors must have the knowledge and skills to act ethically and to display professional responsibility and courtesy in all dealings. Reflect on wider issues facing the legal profession and review the knowledge of the formal rules of conduct.

Appropriate management systems

Understand professional risk management concepts and identify risks specific to practice and apply appropriate approaches to minimise and mitigate risks.

Next steps

Develop insights into the role of law practice principal and identify tips and traps for new principals.

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