A Dream of Practising Law in Australia

Australia ... the large land of opportunity. It used to be America, but with the spate of rising extremism, Malaysian hopefuls have turned to the place where their forebears have often escaped to: Australia. While it isn't easy to move to Australia, there are benefits for Malaysians, such as: A more meritocratic society, more balanced work-life, and an escape from racism and religious intolerance. Cars aren't taxed as heavily, and homes are bigger and roomier (for the same price that you'd get for a home in Kuala Lumpur).



I'm trying to understand how to move to Australia, to work there for a few years, and build a life there. You see, I've lived in Malaysia all my life, and life is hard. We work hard for what we want. The cost of living is increasing, things are going up in price. We try to be nice to our customers, but at the end we find that they screw us after getting a huge discount. (Perhaps the problem was a pricing one.)

Applying for permanent residence visa starts with where. Australia's Department of Immigration and Border Protection requires that applicants live,continuously for 2 years, in "Regional Australia" or "low population growth metropolitan areas". South Australia, Northern Territory and Tasmania are all allowed. In Western Australia, Victoria, Queensland and New South Wales, there are several areas that are not allowed, therefore applicants have to stay in specific postcodes.

The website for the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection provides a page where applicants can search for various types of visas, depending on various criteria, such as applicant's age, nationality, length of stay, etc.

There is a "Skilled Migration Visa", which requires hopeful applicants to work in one of nominated skills in the Skilled Occupation List. These skilled occupations may change from time to time.


In PSYCHOLOGY, various types of psychologists are presently accepted: clinical psychologists, educational psychologists, and organisational psychologists.

In COMPUTING, ICT business analysts, systems engineers, analyst programmers, developer programmers and software engineers are presently accepted. The assessing authority is the ACS.

In LAW, barristers and solicitors are presently accepted. These are available under "general skilled immigrant" classes 189, 190 and 489. The assessing authority is the SLAA (State Legal Admission Authority).

List of Various SLAA

SLAA – New South Wales

Address:
The Professional Services Officer
Legal Profession Admission Board
GPO Box 3980
Sydney NSW 2001
Australia

Email: ag_lpab@agd.nsw.gov.au
Website: Lawlink

SLAA – Queensland

Address:
Legal Practitioners Admissions Board
GPO Box 1785
Brisbane Qld 4001
Australia

Email: admissions@qls.com.au

SLAA – South Australia

Address:
The Registrar
Legal Practitioners Registry
GPO Box 2066
Adelaide SA 5001
Australia

Email: email@lawsocietysa.asn.au

SLAA – Tasmania

Address:
The Secretary
Board of Legal Education
GPO Box 1133
Hobart Tas. 7001
Australia

Email: info@taslawsociety.asn.au

SLAA – Victoria

Address:
Council of Legal Education and Board of Examiners
Ground Floor, 451 Little Bourke Street
Melbourne Vic. 3000
Australia

Email: lawadmissions@justice.gov.au

SLAA – Western Australia

Address:
The Secretary
Legal Practice Board
5th Floor, Kings Building
533 Hay Street
Perth WA 6000
Australia

Email: general@lpbwa.com

SLAA – Northern Territory

Address:
The Secretary
Legal Practitioners Admissions Board
GPO Box 3946
Darwin NT 0801

These were copied from Nilesh Nandan's web blog, at myvisa.com.au.

Applicants under subclass 189 must score at least 60 points.

SLAA, copied from another website (visaaustralia.com.au):

• New South Wales: Legal Profession Admission Board : New South Wales Legal Profession Admission Board 
• Victoria: Supreme Court Victoria : Supreme Court Victoria 
• Queensland: Queensland Law Society : Queensland Law Society 
• South Australia: The Law Society of South Australia : Admission and Practice in SA 
• Western Australia: Western Australia Legal Practice Board : Western Australian Legal Practice Board 
• Tasmania: The Law Society of Tasmania : Tasmanian Board of Legal Education 
• Northern Territory: Law Society Northern Territory : Law Society Northern Territory Admissions Board 
• Australian Capital Territory: The Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory : The Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory

So how is legal practice in Australia? Would a foreign lawyer, admitted to the Bar, be allowed to represent clients in court? That is a major question for the applicant to consider.

Here is another set of details from The College of Law in Australia.

Region	Admitting Authority	Court
Australian Capital Territory	Legal Practitioners Admission Board	Supreme Court of the Australian Capital Territory
New South Wales	Legal Profession Admission Board	Supreme Court of New South Wales
Northern Territory	Legal Practitioners Admission Board	Supreme Court of the Northern Territory
Queensland	Queensland Legal Practitioners Admissions Board (See the Queensland Courts website or the Queensland Law Society website for related information.) QLPAB Admission Dates	Supreme Court of Queensland
South Australia	Legal Practitioners Education and Admission Council (See the Law Society of South Australia website for related information.)	Supreme Court of South Australia
Tasmania	Board of Legal Education (See the Law Society of Tasmania website for related information.)	Supreme Court of Tasmania
Victoria	Council for Legal Education – Board of Examiners	Supreme Court of Victoria
Western Australia	Legal Practice Board	Supreme Court of Western Australia