Early Assessment of Suitability

Before you apply for admission, you may seek a declaration from the Victorian Legal Admissions Board that a specific matter, or matters you wish to disclose, will not adversely affect the assessment of your suitability to be admitted.

An application for such a declaration:

  1. may be made a number of years before the person intends to apply for admission;
  2. may be appropriate if you are doubtful that you would be considered suitable for admission, on the basis of some aspect of your past conduct; and
  3. may be particularly relevant for the continuation of legal studies while there is a risk that something in your past may ultimately prevent you from being admitted as a lawyer in the future.

You should read the Early Assessment of Suitability Guidelines in full before you start your application.

All applications for an early assessment of suitability are to be made using the online application portal.  

The portal will take you though a series of questions listed below.

Contact details including change of name

Contact details including name, date of birth and residential address will be required. Note: employers address not to be provided, suburb/city cannot be a capital city unless you live in the capital.

If you change your name and it differs from that on your documentation (transcript, ID etc.) and you wish to be admitted in your new name, a certified copy of either your marriage certificate or your change of name certificate is to be uploaded in the online portal.

Supplementary collection of personal information such as ancestry and languages spoken are optional questions listed in the online portal. 

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Consent

Applicant consent is required for all applications made via the online portal.  Questions will relate to VLAB sharing information or making enquiries from third persons for the purpose of applying for admission.  This can include health information and identification verification.

If you do not agree to consent, an application cannot be commenced, and you must make contact with VLAB.

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Suitability

To assist in determining what maters should be disclosed, you must read the Disclosure Guidelines for Applicants for Admissions to the Legal Profession.

You may apply for a declaration that matters disclosed by you will not, without more, adversely affect an assessment by the Victorian Legal Admissions Board as to whether you are a fit and proper person to be admitted to the Supreme Court of Victoria.

You must make full disclosure in a statutory declaration to the Victorian Legal Admission Board of any matters which are relevant to whether you are a fit and proper person or any matters that might be regarded as not being favourable to you. You must exhibit documentary evidence to support the essential details of the matter/s you are disclosing, an up-to-date curriculum vitae and background information regarding your studies and current status.

Disclosure Statement

Please download the statutory declaration available here and complete. Have the document witnessed, scanned and uploaded for assessment. Uploads must not exceed 65MB and must be in PDF. Collate your disclosure/capacity statement, exhibit certificates and exhibit documents into one file. If your document exceeds 65MB, you will need to split it into two or more subsequent documents. If a statutory declaration refers to a separate document you must identify it as an exhibit. A template certificate for the exhibit is available here.

Template Certificate Identifying Exhibit to Statutory Declaration
If a statutory declaration refers to a separate document you must identify it as an exhibit.   A template certificate for the exhibit is available.

Further information on suitability is available here.

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Character statement

Character statements must be made on the prescribed statutory declaration and signed in front of an authorised witness.  The types of statements available are:

  • Applicant never previously admitted with disclosure statement
  • Applicant never previously admitted without disclosure statement
  • Applicant previously admitted in another jurisdiction with disclosure statement
  • Applicant previously admitted in another jurisdiction without disclosure statement

Two of the same type of character statements are to be uploaded in the online portal. 

Find out more information about local character statements here.

Find out more information about foreign character statements here.

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Police report

Applicants who currently reside, or have ever resided, in Australia must obtain an Australian police report via Victoria Police. Any other form of police report will not be accepted. The police report shows whether you have any criminal history in Australia and must: 

  • (i) be dated no earlier than six months prior to the date your admission application is received; and
  • (ii) include all previous names by which you have been known. 

Applications can be made for a National Police Check via the Victoria Police website: https://www.police.vic.gov.au/national-police-records-checks#apply-for-a-national-police-check (External link)

You must ensure that the “purpose of your check” is listed as Legal Admission.

If you have never resided in Australia 
If you have never resided in Australia, an Australian police report is not required. You must also obtain a police report from the country where you reside. The report must be dated no earlier than six months prior to the date your admission application is received.

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Finalise and Submit

Once your application is complete, click the “Finalise & Submit Application” button, VLAB will then continue with the assessment of your application.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

How do I order a police report ?
 

Applicants who currently reside, or have ever resided, in Australia must obtain an Australian police report via Victoria Police. Any other form of police report will not be accepted. The police report shows whether you have any criminal history in Australia and must: 

  • (i) be dated no earlier than six months prior to the date your admission application is received; and
  • (ii) include all previous names by which you have been known. 

Applications can be made for a National Police Check via the Victoria Police website: https://www.police.vic.gov.au/national-police-records-checks#apply-for-a-national-police-check (External link)

You must ensure that the “purpose of your check” is listed as Legal Admission.

If you have never resided in Australia 
If you have never resided in Australia, an Australian police report is not required. You must also obtain a police report from the country where you reside. The report must be dated no earlier than six months prior to the date your admission application is received.

 

Do I need to obtain a foreign police report?
 

You will be required to provide a foreign police report if you:

  • have resided in a foreign jurisdiction for over three months in the past 12 months, and
  • reside in a foreign jurisdiction and have never resided in Australia.

For applicants residing in Australia, International Police Reports from over 200 jurisdictions are available through Equifax Fit2Work here (External link).

Until further notice, international checks for Afghanistan, Brunei Darussalam, Comoros, Cote D'Ivoire, Curacao, Djibouti, Dominica, Eswatini, French Polynesia, Gabon, Greenland, Guadeloupe, Guinea-Bissau, Isle of Man, Kiribati, North Korea, Kosovo, Libya, Liechtenstein, Macau, Maldives, Martinique, Montserrat, Nauru, North Macedonia, Russia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Martin, Sao Tomé and Príncipe, Somalia, Syria, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Ukraine, Vanuatu and Venezuela are currently unavailable via Equifax Fit2Work.  If you require a police report from any of these countries, please speak to the relevant Consulate for further information.

 

Who can witness my statutory declaration?
 

A list of authorised statutory declaration witnesses can be found on the Victoria State Government website here (External link).

 

I have uploaded my disclosure statement will I receive a response?

\​​​​You should allow a minimum of 10 business days for your disclosure statement to be fully reviewed. You will receive an email to confirm receipt and also when it has been assessed to advise approval or referral for further review. Disclosure statements that have not provided a full and frank account of matters or are significant may require an applicant to file a further disclosure statement with additional material.

 

Accuracy of documentation
 

You should refrain from providing incorrect responses to application questions, or uploading draft or dummy documents to enable you to proceed through the admission application before ready to do so as this can result in a delay in your admission.

 

I am required to upload in PDF however I don't have access to a scanner

All documents uploaded to your application must be in PDF format and no more than 2GB.  Only matters of suitability will be able to upload up to 65GB.  For all suitability matters, collate your disclosure/capacity statement, exhibit certificates and exhibit documents into one file. There are many free apps available to download to a smart phone or tablet which will convert an image to a PDF document.  Please search the App Store or Google Play for a suitable application.

 

In what format can I upload my documents to my application?

All documents uploaded to your application must be in PDF format and no more than 2GB.  Only matters of suitability will be able to upload up to 65GB. For all suitability matters, collate your disclosure/capacity statement, exhibit certificates and exhibit documents into one file.

 

Who can certify my documents outside of Victoria?

Any person having authority to administer an oath or affirmation in that jurisdiction.

 

How do I get my documents certified?
 

Certain documents are required to be certified, you can find an example on how to do this here (External link).

 

How do I order a police report if I do not live in Australia?
 

You cannot apply for a Police Report through Victoria Police or a Nationally Coordinated Criminal Check and instead you must apply through the website of the Australian Federal Police here (External link) and select ‘Commonwealth Employment/Purpose’, and then '33-Immigration/Citizenship’.

You must also obtain a police report from the country where you are currently residing. The report must be dated no earlier than six months prior to the date your admission application is received.