PRACTICAL LEGAL TRAINING NSW
FLEXIBLE, SUPPORTING PLT THAT GETS YOU REAL-WORLD READY.
PLT with us is practical, flexible and real-world-focused. With no essays, written exams, or lectures...just live workshops and virtual practice sessions, led by an experienced lawyer who’ll provide one-on-one feedback and help keep your learning on track.
The Legal Profession Admission Board has mandated 15 days' on-campus attendance for all PLT providers in NSW. If you’d like to study in NSW, we’re here to help.
We’ve got multiple course options, and multiple locations where you can study on-campus.
WHAT’S CHANGING?
If you start your PLT after 1 March 2026 in NSW, your course will include:
- 15 days' on-campus workshops (previously 5 days)
- 15 days' work experience (reduced from 75 days)
Everything else – the skills you learn, the support you receive, and the program’s recognition for admission – stays the same.
These changes apply to all PLT providers in New South Wales.
QUICK COMPARISON
| BEFORE 1 MAR 2026 | FROM 1 MAR 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| COURSE LENGTH | 15 – 30 weeks | 15 weeks |
| ON-CAMPUS ATTENDANCE | 5 days | 15 days |
| PACE | 30 – 35 hrs / 15 – 20 hrs | 15 – 20 hrs |
| WORK EXPERIENCE | 75 days (or 15 days & extra coursework) |
15 days (no extra course) |
| RECOGNITION | LPAB approved | LPAB approved |
| COST | Domestic $9,200 / International $13,270 (FEE-HELP AVAILABLE) |
Domestic $9,200 / International $13,270 (FEE-HELP AVAILABLE) |
WHAT THESE CHANGES MEAN FOR YOU
We've designed the new PLT courses to keep your pathway to admission as practical, flexible, and achievable as ever – while meeting the new LPAB requirements.
Shorter course, same outcome
Complete your PLT in around 15 weeks and take the next step towards admission sooner.
More face-to-face learning
Spend 15 days on campus in interactive workshops that build your real-world skills.
YOUR OPTIONS
START BEFORE 1 MARCH 2026
Prefer the current structure? Start before 1 March 2026 and complete PLT with 5 days' on-campus workshops and 75 days of work experience.
Full-Time
Before 1 March 2026
15 weeks
30-35 hrs study per week
5 days on-campus
Domestic $9,200 / International $13,270
Balanced
Before 1 March 2026
18 weeks
15-20 hrs study per week
10 days on-campus
Domestic $9,200 / International $13,270
Part-Time
Before 1 March 2026
30 weeks
15-20 hrs study per week
5 days on-campus
Domestic $9,200 / International $13,270
START AFTER 1 MARCH 2026
Planning to start your PLT in March 2026 or beyond? You’ll be part of the new course structure with 15 days' on-campus workshops and 15 days of work experience.
3 Weeks On-Campus
From 1 March 2026
15 weeks
15-20 hrs study per week
3 weeks on-campus
Domestic $9,200 / International $13,270
2 Weeks & 5 Days On-Campus
From 1 March 2026
15 weeks
15-20 hrs study per week
2 weeks and 5 days (Mon, Wed or Fri) on-campus
Domestic $9,200 / International $13,270
1 Week & 10 Days On-Campus
From 1 March 2026
15 weeks
15-20 hrs study per week
1 week & 10 days (Mon, Fri or Wed) on-campus
Domestic $9,200 / International $13,270
Weekly On-Campus (CRICOS approved)
From 1 March 2026
15 weeks
30-35 hrs study per week
5 days week one & 3 days every following week on-campus
Domestic $9,200 / International $13,270
Attendance Exemption*
From 1 March 2026
*Eligibility rules apply
30 weeks
15-20 hrs study per week
5 days online
Domestic $9,200 / International $13,270
NOT SURE WHICH OPTION IS RIGHT FOR YOU?
You don’t have to decide alone. Our team can help you plan the best path based on your timing and goals.
COURSEWORK
Practical Legal Training coursework is divided into six practical subjects. Each subject follows the same pattern:
- Practical online tasks
- Huddles
- A Practice-Ready Review with a supervising lawyer
Workshops sit alongside your subjects and help you practise core skills live with your facilitator.
Everything you do is focused on real legal work — not lectures, exams or essays.
Short, practical classes led by lawyers
Workshops feel very different from uni tutorials. They’re hands-on sessions where you practise skills like interviewing clients, drafting documents, running files and communicating with supervisors.
What to expect:
- Attend online or on-campus
- Offered as full-day sessions or shorter evening options
- Learn in small groups
- Ask questions and get guidance directly from your facilitator
Real legal work, simulated online
This is where you’ll spend most of your time. Instead of lectures or weekly classes, you’ll complete practical tasks such as:
- taking instructions
- drafting letters and court documents
- preparing file notes
- analysing problems with incomplete information
- managing matters and deadlines
What to expect:
- Submit 1-2 tasks per week
- Personalised feedback from your lecturer
- No exams or grades
- Clear milestones so you always know where you’re up to
At the end of each subject, you’ll complete a short quiz (50% pass, unlimited retries).
You’ll learn by doing, repeating and refining — just like a junior lawyer.
Optional 30-minute group check-ins
These short online sessions help you stay on track. Bring questions, get tips, and hear how other students are going.
A practical, supportive assessment
There are no exams in the workplace – and none in PLT.
Instead, at the end of each subject, you’ll have a Practice-Ready Review with a legal practitioner Think of it as a guided conversation about the work you submitted for that subject.
Your reviewer will walk you through a few key questions to help you reflect on:
- how you approached the tasks
- the decisions you made
- what you’d do next time in a similar situation
You don’t need to memorise anything. It’s simply a chance to talk through your work — the same way you would with a real supervisor in a legal workplace.
What to expect:
- Reviews are scheduled in advance, so you can plan around work or other commitments
- They run for about 45 minutes
- You’ll get supportive, practical feedback from a legal practitioner.
It’s designed to feel like a real workplace discussion between a junior lawyer and their supervisor – open, practical, and focused on helping you feel confident for admission
WORK EXPERIENCE
15 Days' Work Experience
Amount
15 days required (reduced from 75).
Timing
Complete after you've started your Practical Legal Training.
No extra coursework
15 days fully satisfy the admission requirements...No additional coursework needed.
Support from Career Advisors
Get help finding and applying for opportunities.
Your work experience is your chance to apply what you’ve learned, gain insight into the legal profession, and start building your career – with guidance from our Careers Advisors every step of the way.
To make sure your work experience counts, it must:
- Involve the delivery of legal services
- Be supervised by a qualified lawyer
- Be completed in one or more placements
You can complete your placement in a law firm, community legal centre, government department, or corporate legal team.
Getting it approved
Before you start, make sure your placement is approved so it counts:
- Read the Work Experience Rules.
- Give your supervisor the Work Experience Guide for Supervisors.
- Submit your Work Experience Approval Form before (or soon after) you begin.
When finished, submit your Declaration Form signed by your supervisor.
GETTING STARTED
Your Practical Legal Training (PLT) is usually completed after you finish your law degree – but in some cases, you can start a little earlier.
Here’s what you need to know before you apply.
You can start your PLT if you’ve:
- Completed all Priestley 11 core subjects
- Finished the last exam of your law degree (or double degree)
- Received your final results before your course census date
If you meet these requirements, you’re ready to apply.
If your law degree was completed more than five years ago, the Legal Profession Admission Board (LPAB) will need to confirm that your qualifications are still current — this is called the stale learning rule. You’ll need to have your qualifications assessed before enrolling in PLT.
If you haven’t quite finished your degree, you may still be eligible to start early.
In New South Wales, you can apply to the Legal Profession Admission Board (LPAB) for early commencement if you’ve:
- Completed all Priestley 11 core subjects
- Have no more than two electives remaining in your degree
- Are currently enrolled in your remaining subject(s)
To apply, you’ll need to send the LPAB:
- A completed Application for Early Commencement of PLT form
- An original letter from your Dean confirming your completed and remaining subjects
- Proof of payment of the LPAB application fee
Once approved, please provide your LPAB approval letter to the College by your course census date.
To complete your enrolment, make sure you have:
- An unofficial (or official) transcript or screenshot from your student portal
- A clear photo of yourself
- Your Unique Student Identifier (USI)
When you’re ready, fill out our online application form — it only takes about 15 minutes.
Submit it at least one week before your course starts.
You can save your progress and come back later if you need to.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
If you start your PLT after 1 March 2026 in NSW, your course will include:
- Include 15 days' on-campus learning
- Include 15 days' work experience (reduced from 75 days)
Everything else about PLT, including the skills you learn, the support you receive, and the program’s recognition for admission, will stay the same.
At the College of Law, we’ve developed a range of course formats so you’ll continue to have flexibility in how you complete your PLT while meeting the new requirements.
If you enrol in a course that starts on or after 1 March 2026, the new LPAB requirements will apply to you. That means your PLT will include 15 days' on-campus learning and 15 days' work experience.
If your course starts before 1 March 2026, you’ll complete your PLT under the current structure.
Either way, you’ll have a clear and supported pathway to admission, and we’ll make sure you have plenty of notice and guidance before your course begins.
You don’t need to rush. Both course structures, before and after March 2026, are approved by the LPAB and fully recognised for admission.
If you’re ready to start sooner, you can enrol in a course under the current structure.
If you’d rather begin later, choose a course starting after 1 March 2026.
The Legal Profession Admission Board (LPAB) has introduced this requirement. It applies to all PLT providers in New South Wales.
The Legal Profession Admission Board (LPAB) is the regulator for admission to the legal profession in New South Wales. They set the rules and requirements you need to meet before you can be admitted as a lawyer, including the structure of Practical Legal Training (PLT).
The College of Law is an approved PLT provider. This means we deliver PLT programs that meet the LPAB’s requirements and prepare you for admission. While the LPAB sets the rules, the College designs and delivers the courses that help you complete them.
Yes. The new rule is set by the LPAB, so every PLT provider in NSW must follow it.
The Legal Profession Admission Board (LPAB) sets the rules for admission to practise law in New South Wales.
The new PLT requirements apply only to NSW courses, and all PLT providers in the state must follow them.
If you study PLT in another state or territory, the current requirements will continue to apply.
No matter where you complete your PLT, you’ll graduate with a nationally recognised qualification that meets the same admission requirements to become a lawyer.
No. Once you complete your PLT, you’ll be eligible to apply for admission, regardless of which structure you complete it under.
No. All PLT programs across Australia lead to the same admission outcome, eligibility to apply for admission to practise law.
These changes only affect the delivery format in New South Wales, not the recognition or value of your qualification.
All College PLT courses lead to the same outcome – admission to practise law – and include the same subjects, assessments, and support.
The best course depends on your timing, workload, and how you prefer to learn.
Start before March 2026 if you want to:
- Begin sooner under the current course structure
- Complete 75 days of work experience
- Attend five on-campus workshop days
Start from March 2026 if you prefer to:
- Begin later under the new structure
- Complete 15 days of on-campus workshops and 15 days of work experience
- Finish your PLT in a shorter timeframe (around 15 weeks)
Whichever you choose, both are LPAB-approved and prepare you for admission.
The content and outcomes of PLT remain the same, you’ll still learn the practical legal skills needed for admission.
What’s changing is how some of that learning is delivered:
- Before March 2026: five days' on-campus attendance and 75 days of work experience.
- After March 2026: 15 days' on-campus learning and 15 days of work experience.
You’ll cover the same professional competencies in both versions of the program – just in a new structure that balances online and in-person learning differently.
Yes. The LPAB will require all NSW students to attend 15 days' on-campus learning for all PLT courses in NSW. These sessions focus around hands-on, practical skill development that complements your online coursework.
At the College of Law, you’ll have flexibility in how you complete those 15 days, with several course formats to choose from:
- 3 Weeks On-Campus – Three consecutive weeks.
- 2 Weeks & 5 Days On-Campus – Two consecutive weeks, then one day a week for five weeks.
- 1 Week & 10 Days On-Campus – One week, then one day a week for ten weeks.
- Weekly On-Campus – Three days each week throughout your course.
Each format delivers the same learning outcomes, just designed to fit around your life.
Yes! To make attendance easier for students across NSW, we’ll be offering on-campus PLT courses outside Sydney CBD in:
- Parramatta
- Armidale
- Wollongong
- Coffs Harbour
- Lismore
Each regional course offers the same high-quality, hands-on learning experience as our Sydney courses – just closer to home.
No. All NSW PLT courses from March 2026 are 15 weeks long with the same study pace – 15 days on campus and about 15–20 hours of online study each week.
It’s a balanced schedule that lets you keep working while completing your PLT.
You’ll still be able to balance PLT with your work and life commitments. The new courses have been designed with flexibility in mind, so you can choose a format that fits your schedule.
You’ll complete 15 on-campus days across one of the following course formats:
- 3 Weeks On-Campus – attend full-time for three consecutive weeks.
- 2 Weeks & 5 Days On-Campus – attend two full weeks, then one extra day each week for five weeks.
- 1 Week & 10 Days On-Campus – attend one full week, then one extra day each week for ten weeks.
- Weekly On-Campus – attend three days a week throughout the course.
The rest of your coursework remains flexible and online, so you can study when it suits you.
You can expect a study load of around 15-20 hours per week.
No, just different in structure.
The course content, support, and overall workload stay the same. Only the format is changing, with more on-campus learning and fewer work experience days.
Fees will also remain the same for courses starting before and after March 2026.
No – your course will stay exactly as planned.
You’ll complete your PLT under the current structure, which includes 5 days' on-campus learning and 75 days' work experience.
The new structure only applies to NSW courses that start after 1 March 2026.
If your PLT starts before March 2026 and finishes after, you’ll stay in the same course structure you began with.
You won’t be moved into the new format once your course has started.
Possibly, it depends on your timing and eligibility.
If you’re enrolled in a NSW PLT course that starts before 1 March 2026, you may be able to transfer into a course that starts from 1 March 2026 and complete your PLT under the new structure.
Keep in mind that the 2026 courses have different requirements. If you transfer, you’ll need to meet the full 2026 course requirements, including:
- 15 days of on-campus workshops, and
- 15 days of work experience.
If you’re considering a transfer, our team can talk through your options, explain how the change would affect your timing, and help you decide what’s best for you
If your NSW PLT course starts before 1 March 2026, you'll follow the current work experience rules.
You can complete either:
- 75 days' approved work experience, or
- 15 days' work experience combined with 6 weeks of additional coursework.
Even if you complete your work experience later, as long as your course began before 1 March 2026, these rules still apply.
If you transfer from a NSW PLT course that starts before 1 March 2026 into one that starts after 1 March 2026, you’ll need to meet all requirements of the new course format.
That means you can complete 15 days' work experience, but you'll also need to attend 15 days' on-campus workshops.
If you’re thinking about transferring, our team can help you understand how this might affect your study plan and what options are available to you.
Yes. If your NSW PLT course begins before 1 March 2026, you can still complete 15 days of work experience combined with 6 weeks of additional coursework (known as the Clinical Experience Module).
This option will remain available until 31 December 2026, giving you plenty of time to finish your PLT under the current structure.
If you’d prefer to complete your PLT under the current structure, you may be able to transfer into a course that begins before 1 March 2026. These courses include five days of on-campus attendance and 75 days' work experience.
To enrol in a course, you’ll need to:
- Have finished the final exam of your degree (or your double degree, if you’re completing one), and
- Be able to provide your exam results by your PLT program’s census date.
If you meet these requirements, our team can chat through available course options and help you find one that fits your timeline.
No, you don’t need to reapply or re-enrol. We’ll get in touch with you to talk through your options. Once you let us know which course format you’d like to move into, we’ll take care of transferring your enrolment for you.
It may be possible to transfer your enrolment to another state, such as the ACT or Victoria, if you meet the eligibility requirements. Each situation is different, so please contact us directly to discuss your options.
We’ll help you find the best pathway for completing your PLT and reaching admission.
From 2026, the Legal Profession Admission Board (LPAB) will reduce the work experience requirement for PLT in New South Wales from 75 days to 15 days.
This means you’ll still gain valuable practical experience, but within a shorter timeframe that fits more easily around your study, work, or other commitments.
Everything else about work experience, including the types of placements you can do and the support you’ll receive, will remain the same.
If your course begins on or after 1 March 2026, the new Work Experience Rules apply.
All 15 days of work experience must be completed after you start your PLT – previous experience can’t be credited toward the requirement.
No, course fees will stay the same.
Courses starting before or after 1 March 2026 are $9,200 for domestic students and $13,270 for international students.
The course content, subjects, resources, and support will remain the same – and you’ll still have access to FEE-HELP and standard payment options.
Yes. FEE-HELP will continue to be available for eligible domestic students under both the current and new PLT structures.
We understand the new changes can be confusing - that's why our team is here to answer your questions and guide you through your options. Please reach out if you’d like to talk through your situation.
- Email enrolments@collaw.edu.au
- Book a Call
- Call 1300 856 11
