FAQs for Providers
1. What are MEC Points and how do I submit an event to be accredited for Public MEC Points?
A: Mandatory Ethics Component (‘MEC’) Points are CPD Points obtained for undertaking CPD activities on ethics and professional standards (‘MEC topics’). Lawyers are required to obtain 3 MEC Points (at least 1.5 of which must be Public MEC Points) for a given CPD Year if they hold a practising certificate or foreign practitioner certificate for more than 8 months in that CPD Year.
The list of MEC topics may be found here.
In addition to CPD activities which are exclusively on MEC topics, Public MEC Points may be obtained from CPD activities which cover a mix of MEC topics and non-MEC topics, in respect of the portion on MEC topics. For example, for a 2-hour lecture on family law, of which 30 minutes is spent on ethics for family law practitioners, you may request that the activity be accredited for 2 Public CPD Points, of which 0.5 CPD Points are MEC Points.
Requests for accreditation of a CPD activity for Public MEC Points may be made through the existing process for seeking accreditation. If you are requesting accreditation of a CPD activity which cover non-MEC topics as well as MEC topics, you must clearly identify the portion of the programme which covers the MEC topics.
2. What are the changes to the number of CPD Points lawyers may obtain from speaking?
A: With effect from CPD Year 2025, lawyers will obtain 2 CPD Points per hour for speaking activities under rule 3(1)(g) of the CPD Rules, instead of 3 CPD Points per hour.
Additionally, Group 1 Lawyer and Group 2 Lawyers may only obtain up to half of the standard CPD Points required through speaking activities under rule 3(1)(g) of the CPD Rules. The rest of the points must be obtained from other activities. In CPD Year 2025, this means that Group 1 Lawyers may obtain up to 8 CPD Points (whether Public or Private CPD Points) from teaching, and that Group 2 Lawyers may obtain up to 5 CPD Points (whether Public or Private CPD Points) from teaching.
You may wish to note that Public CPD Points for speaking will no longer be automatically reflected in a lawyer’s SILE ePortfolio Learning History if the speaker is a Group 1 Lawyer or a Group 2 Lawyer. Instead, the Public CPD Points will be updated in the Teaching Cap tab in their SILE ePortfolio account. They will need to select the CPD Points they wish to rely on and save the submission in order for the CPD Points to appear in their SILE ePortfolio Learning History. This is to enable them to change which CPD Points they wish to rely on throughout the CPD Year.
The cap on teaching does not apply to Group 3 Lawyers and s36B Foreign Lawyers.
3. What is the estimated number of lawyers regulated under the CPD Scheme?
A: For CPD Year 2025, an estimated 6300 lawyers (comprising roughly 1800 Group 1 Lawyers, 2000 Group 2 Lawyers, 2500 Group 3 Lawyers and 43 s36B Foreign Lawyers) will be required to undertake CPD Activities.
4. If a Provider provides e-learning videos, how will these be classified?
A: These e-learning videos will be considered as Non-accredited CPD Activities and participants are only able to obtain Private CPD points for viewing such videos.
5. If a Provider runs private events for law firms, how are such events classified?
A: Such events are classified as Non-accredited CPD Activities and the participants can only obtain Private CPD Points.
6. What is an overseas event organised by a Provider considered?
A: An overseas event is considered a Non-accredited CPD Activity.
7. What are the guidelines for instructors of Accredited CPD Activities?
A: The instructors would need to be appropriately qualified, whether by academic qualifications or demonstrated experience in the relevant area of practice.
8. A Provider organises an event that may also be attended by the general public. Can such an event be considered an Accredited CPD Activity?
A: As long as the criteria for a CPD Activity are met, the event can be considered an Accredited CPD Activity. However, it should be noted that an event which is also open to non-lawyers may not necessarily meet the criteria if the level of the event is pitched too low.
9. Why does the SILE need all the event materials for the event to be accredited?
A: The Accreditation Committee needs to review all event materials to evaluate if the event meets the criteria for a CPD Activity and determine how many CPD Points a lawyer can obtain from attending the activity.
10. What constitutes a valid attendance by a lawyer?
A: The Attendance Policy as stated in the CPD Rules and Guidelines must be met.
11. For a conference, how should attendance be accounted for?
A: At the minimum, participants should be asked to sign in at the start of each day and sign out at the end of the day. If the event is accredited by segment, then participants should be asked to sign in at the start of each segment and sign out at the end of the segment. With effect from 1 January 2017, for a multi-day conference, the Attendance Policy must be complied with in respect of each day of the conference, i.e., participants may avail of the 15-minute grace period for each day of the conference.
12. Can a lawyer obtain CPD Points for both participating and speaking at the same Accredited CPD Activity?
A: No, he/she can only obtain CPD Points either as a participant or a speaker.
13. Why is there a need for the Course Evaluation form?
A: This is one of the ways to allow the SILE to monitor the quality of the programmes conducted by a Provider.
13. If a Provider runs a course throughout the year, how often will it need to submit the course evaluation summary?
A: The Provider will need to submit the course evaluation summary after each run of the event.
14. If a Provider runs the same course a few times throughout the year, how often will it need to submit the course descriptions, outlines etc. to the SILE for accreditation?
A: The Provider will still need to apply for each repeat run to be accredited.
15. When is the latest date by which the Provider must submit its event to SILE for accreditation?
A: Providers are required to submit their request for accreditation at least 6 weeks (and preferably 8 weeks) before the start of the event, as the accreditation process itself may take up to two weeks (provided that all the information is in order).