Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in Ontario is no longer simply about maintaining compliance with the Law Society of Ontario’s annual 12-hour requirement. It is about competence, credibility, and the long-term health of the profession.
Yet many lawyers, particularly those at different stages of practice, experience CPD very differently.
Junior counsel often struggle to access practical training that accelerates real-world readiness. Senior counsel, meanwhile, frequently find that CPD programming does not reflect the complexity of their leadership roles, mentorship responsibilities, or evolving practice demands. The result is a widening experiential gap within the profession.
As a candidate for Chair of Continuing Professional Development at the Ontario Bar Association, David Milosevic’s vision focuses on three pillars – efficiency, accessibility, and excellence – with a clear objective of bridging the gap between junior and senior counsel.
Voting for the position of Chair of CPD within the OBA closes at noon EST on March 5, 2026.
Ontario’s legal community spans articling students, associates, in-house counsel, equity partners, sole practitioners, and senior litigators with decades of experience. Each group has distinct educational needs.
Junior lawyers often need:
Senior lawyers, by contrast, are navigating:
Traditional CPD models sometimes fail to differentiate meaningfully between these groups. A single substantive session may be too basic for senior counsel while overwhelming for junior lawyers. Alternatively, highly technical sessions may assume foundational knowledge that early-career lawyers have not yet developed.
If CPD is to remain relevant, it must evolve beyond one-size-fits-all programming. David Milosevic recognizes that the future of legal education in Ontario depends on deliberate tiering, thoughtful design, and practical integration across career stages.
Time is one of the profession’s scarcest resources.
Whether in private practice, government, or in-house roles, lawyers balance client demands, court obligations, administrative work, and business pressures. CPD that feels duplicative, unfocused, or impractical becomes a burden rather than a benefit.
Efficiency in CPD means:
David Milosevic envisions CPD programming that prioritizes quality over volume. Rather than increasing the number of sessions, the emphasis should be on designing sessions that deliver targeted value.
This includes:
Efficiency also requires technological integration. On-demand access, searchable content libraries, and centralized materials reduce duplication and increase long-term usability. When CPD respects lawyers’ time, participation increases and impact deepens.
Accessibility is not simply about geography. It encompasses cost, scheduling, format, and inclusivity.
Ontario’s legal community is geographically diverse. Lawyers practicing in Northern or rural communities may face greater barriers to attending in-person programming. Sole practitioners may struggle to step away from client files. Early-career lawyers may face financial constraints.
An effective CPD strategy must account for these realities. David Milosevic’s vision includes:
Accessibility also extends to content design. Sessions must avoid assuming homogeneous practice environments. Government lawyers, litigators, corporate counsel, and small-firm practitioners all operate under different pressures.
Bridging the junior-senior gap requires accessibility of knowledge, not only physical attendance.
Senior counsel possess institutional wisdom that is invaluable to early-career lawyers. CPD can serve as a structured bridge for mentorship by integrating panel formats, intergenerational discussions, and practical demonstrations of strategy development.
Accessibility is not only about opening doors. It is about building intentional connections across stages of practice.
Excellence in CPD must reflect the complexity of modern legal practice.
The regulatory baseline set by the Law Society of Ontario requires lawyers to complete 12 CPD hours annually, including Professionalism Hours with at least one hour focused on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. Compliance, however, is only the starting point.
Excellence demands more than attendance. David Milosevic’s approach emphasizes:
For junior lawyers, excellence means structured foundational competence. For senior counsel, it means strategic refinement and leadership development.
The OBA has the opportunity to lead by modelling programming that raises standards across the profession. Excellence must be visible in both content and delivery.
When CPD programming challenges lawyers intellectually while equipping them practically, the entire profession benefits.
The gap between junior and senior counsel is not inevitable. It is a design issue.
David Milosevic proposes a more structured CPD ecosystem that includes:
Such programming allows junior counsel to learn directly from experienced practitioners, while senior counsel engage in reflective leadership and knowledge transfer.
Bridging the gap also strengthens succession planning within firms and organizations. As senior counsel transition into leadership or retirement, institutional knowledge must not dissipate.
CPD can serve as a formal vehicle for knowledge continuity. This is not merely an educational issue; it is a professional sustainability issue.
The Ontario Bar Association is uniquely positioned to shape the culture of professional development in Ontario. While regulatory requirements originate with the Law Society of Ontario, the OBA provides the platform for innovation, collaboration, and forward-thinking programming.
Under David Milosevic’s leadership as CPD Chair, the focus would be on:
Efficiency. Accessibility. Excellence. These are not abstract goals. They are operational principles that can guide measurable reform.
Continuing Professional Development should be more than an annual obligation. It should be a strategic engine for competence, mentorship, and excellence across Ontario’s legal community.
If you believe CPD should be efficient, accessible, and designed to bridge the gap between junior and senior counsel, then David Milosevic invites your support in his candidacy for Chair of Continuing Professional Development at the Ontario Bar Association.
Together, we can modernize CPD, strengthen mentorship, and ensure that professional development meaningfully serves lawyers at every stage of practice. If you would like to discuss David’s platform, please reach out by calling (416) 916-1387 or emailing him at dm@mlflitigation.com. The voting period for this year’s OBA board elections runs from February 27 to March 5, 2026 (ballots close at noon).
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