Starting a law firm in Australia, state by state
The core requirements are the same across Australia: a certificate to practise as a principal, compulsory insurance, a notice to the regulator, and the trust rules if you will hold client money. Who is eligible, what the notice is, what it costs and what the trust rules are differ by state and by practice structure. This page sets the eight jurisdictions side by side, with a page for each.
New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia run on the Legal Profession Uniform Law. The other five have their own Acts, and the differences that matter are the course, the notice and the price.
- Supervised practice first: 18 months to two years in every state before you can practise unsupervised. Queensland issues a restricted principal certificate to a partner or director still under supervision, but not to a sole practitioner; no other state issues a principal certificate while the condition stands.
- A course in six states: NSW, Queensland, WA, SA and the ACT require an approved practice management course for a new principal, and Victoria expects one unless the Board accepts another demonstration of the skills. Tasmania requires a trust accounting course. None was found for the NT.
- Insurance before the certificate: every regulator issues the principal certificate only once the compulsory insurer confirms cover. WA requires the insurer to be paid before the practice opens, and Victoria completes a practice's registration only when LPLC's certificate of insurance comes back.
- The notice differs most: 14 days before in Victoria, before starting in WA, within a month after in SA, and through the certificate form in NSW and Queensland. An incorporated legal practice gives notice before it starts everywhere.
- Trust money is optional, the paperwork is not: every state lets a practice run without a trust account, and SA and Queensland still want an annual nil declaration.
The eight jurisdictions
Click the state for its page, which has the forms, the deadlines, the insurance premium and the sources.
| State | Who issues the certificate | Supervised practice first | Practice management course | Notice before starting | Compulsory insurer (premium on the state page) | Certificate fee and fidelity fund, 2026-27 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NSW | Law Society of NSW | 18 months or 2 years, depending on the admission pathway | Yes | Sole practitioner: through the certificate form. ILP: 14 days | Lawcover | $640 |
| Vic | VLSB+C | 18 months or 2 years, depending on the admission pathway | Yes | 14 days, every structure | LPLC | $723 with trust, $504 without, plus $348 fidelity if trust money |
| Qld | QLS | 18 to 24 months, depending on the legal training before admission | Yes | Sole practitioner: on Form 1A. ILP: before starting, 20 days recommended | Lexon | $1,690 |
| WA | Legal Practice Board | 2 years, or 18 months after 12 months of articles or registered workplace training | Yes | Forms 11 and 7B before starting. ILP: 14 days | Law Mutual (WA) | $1,330 |
| SA | Law Society of SA | 2 years full time | Yes | Within 1 month after starting. ILP: before starting | Law Claims scheme | $1,012 |
| Tas | Law Society of Tasmania | 18 months or 2 years | No | None found for a sole practitioner. ILP: before starting | Law Society scheme (CGU) | $1,603.28 plus levies |
| ACT | ACT Law Society | 18 months if practical legal training was done under supervision, otherwise 2 years | Yes | Practice establishment form before opening | An insurer the Society approves: Lawcover, Dual Australia or others on its list | $1,605 |
| NT | Law Society NT | 18 months or 2 years under the regulations; the Society's eligibility policy asks for 2 years | No | None found for a sole practitioner. ILP: before starting | Lawcover | $2,466 for a July start |
From each regulator's and insurer's own website on 23 October 2026, for the 2026-27 practising year. Professional indemnity premiums depend on fee income and are on each state's page. "None found" means the regulator's site and the regulations fetched do not state one, which is not the same as there being none: ask the regulator.
The steps in every state
Finish supervised legal practice
Every admitted lawyer practises under supervision first: two years for most coursework graduates, 18 months where practical legal training was done under a lawyer's supervision, and 18 to 24 months in Queensland. The condition is removed on application, with a supervisor's statement, and until it is removed no state issues a certificate that allows sole practice.
Complete the practice management course
Six jurisdictions require an approved course before, or within months of, becoming a principal. The courses run three days or their online equivalent and cover trust accounting, risk, finance and staff. Each state names its providers; the Law Society runs its own in NSW, Queensland, SA and the ACT.
Apply for the principal certificate
Called a principal practising certificate in the Uniform Law states and Queensland, Category A or B in South Australia, and an unrestricted certificate in the ACT and the NT. Victoria and SA split it by whether you may receive trust money. The practising year runs 1 July to 30 June, and every state charges pro rata for a later start, by half year, quarter or month.
Arrange professional indemnity insurance
Compulsory in every state, with one scheme each except the ACT, where the lawyer chooses from approved insurers. Premiums are a percentage of fee income in NSW, Victoria, Queensland and WA, and a fixed amount in SA and Tasmania. New practices estimate their first year's income. The certificate is not issued until the insurer confirms cover.
Tell the regulator
Victoria wants 14 days' notice of any new practice. WA wants two forms before you start. SA wants notice within a month after. NSW and Queensland take the practice details on the certificate form. An incorporated legal practice gives notice before it starts in every state, 14 days in the Uniform Law states.
Decide on trust money
If the practice will hold money for clients, open a general trust account with an approved bank, notify the regulator within 14 days, appoint an external examiner, and meet the statutory deposit rules in NSW, Victoria, SA, Tasmania and the ACT. If it will not, say so on the certificate and skip the account, but check the annual nil declaration in SA and Queensland.
Then the business
An ABN, a business name registered with ASIC if it is not your own, a company and a notice to the regulator if it is an incorporated legal practice, workers compensation if you employ anyone, and the Law Council's and your state society's rules on advertising and costs disclosure. The regulator pages linked on each state page list these.
Uniform Law states and the rest
The Legal Profession Uniform Law, in force in NSW and Victoria since 2015 and adopted by WA under its 2022 Application Act, sets the certificate categories, the supervised practice condition, the practice management course condition, the 14-day notice for an incorporated legal practice, the trust account rules and the external examiner's role. Each state applies it through its own Application Act and regulator, sets its own fees, and runs its own insurer: Lawcover, LPLC and Law Mutual (WA).
Each has its own Act: the Legal Profession Act 2007 in Queensland and Tasmania, the Legal Practitioners Act 1981 in South Australia, and the Legal Profession Act 2006 in the ACT and the NT. The shape is the same, with a principal or unrestricted certificate, compulsory insurance and trust rules, but the course requirement, the notice and the deposit rules are each state's own.
Your state
One page each, with the forms, the deadlines and the sources.
The part the regulator does not cover
Once the certificate, the insurance and the notice are done, the next thing a new Australian practice needs is a number clients can ring and a plan for the calls you cannot take. Our phone and intake checklist for a new law firm covers the number, who answers when you are in court, the questions the first call has to capture, and where the record of each call goes. EzyBiz LEX was built for a practice at this stage: an Australian business number in an app on the phone you already carry,
Questions about starting a law firm in Australia
New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia. Each applies the Uniform Law through its own Application Act and keeps its own regulator: the Law Society of NSW, the Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner, and the Legal Practice Board of Western Australia. Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, the ACT and the Northern Territory each have their own Legal Profession or Legal Practitioners Act.
Between 18 months and two years in every state, depending on how you qualified. The Uniform Law states, the ACT, Tasmania and the Northern Territory set 18 months for a lawyer whose practical legal training was done under a lawyer's supervision, such as articles or supervised workplace training, and two years for a coursework graduate. Queensland sets 18 to 24 months and South Australia two years full time. Part-time practice counts pro rata.
In New South Wales, Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and the ACT, yes, before or shortly after you become a principal. Victoria expects one too, unless the Board accepts a statutory declaration and supporting letters as another demonstration of the skills. Tasmania requires a trust accounting course instead, and no course requirement was found in the Northern Territory. Fees run from $1,500 in the ACT to $2,400 for a QLS non-member.
Yes, in every state, if you never receive trust money. Victoria and South Australia issue a cheaper principal certificate that is not authorised to receive trust money, and Victoria charges no fidelity fund contribution to such a practice. The catch is in the obligations that remain: South Australia requires every practice to lodge an annual trust money statement, and Queensland requires a Form 4 Part A declaration by 30 April, trust account or not.
The regulatory costs in the first year, before rent, software or marketing, are a practising certificate of $640 to $2,466 depending on the state, a practice management course of $1,500 to $2,400 where one is required, and professional indemnity insurance from about $220 in New South Wales or $236 in Western Australia for a practice with no fee income yet, to $3,663 in South Australia and $4,345 in Tasmania where the premium is a fixed amount. The state pages give the figures and their sources.
The regulatory facts are taken from each regulator's, law society's and insurer's own pages, which are linked on each state page with the date they were read. EzyBiz LEX is our product and is mentioned once on each page, in the section on phones, which the regulators do not cover.
Primary sources and further reading
Every section reference and figure in this guide traces to one of these. They are listed so you can check the guide rather than take its word for it.
- Your practising certificate, The Law Society of New South Wales.
- Becoming a principal lawyer, Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner.
- Practising certificates, Queensland Law Society.
- Practising certificates, Legal Practice Board of Western Australia.
- Practising certificates, Law Society of South Australia.
- Practising certificate fee guide 2026-27, Law Society of Tasmania.
- Opening an ACT law practice, ACT Law Society.
- Practising certificates, Law Society Northern Territory.
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