Your Membership Eligibility
Subject to any determination by the ACC Australia board, ACC Australia membership is open to:
- lawyers who:
(a) are employees of a body corporate (other than an incorporated legal practice or law firm) or a statutory corporation or government or semi-government body whose responsibilities include the practice of law or the provision of legal advice; and
(b) do not hold themselves out to the public for the practice of law or the provision of legal advice; or
- lawyers who are engaged to provide legal advice to no more than two bodies corporate (including their related bodies corporate) or statutory corporations or government or semi-government bodies at any given time, whether as an employee, contractor or as the sole director of a body corporate (which may include an incorporated legal practice) under a contract for provision of legal advice.
Subject to the exception below and any determination by the Board, the following persons are ineligible for membership:
- Individuals whose responsibilities include selling or providing services to Corporate Lawyers (either individually or through their organisations) who are not their employer. This includes individuals who work for companies that provide legal services such as recruitment agencies and law firms.
- Individuals whose responsibilities include sales, marketing and business development in the legal market.
- Individuals who do not hold qualifications which entitle that person to be admitted to practice law in a jurisdiction.
Notwithstanding the above:
- for the purposes of the definition of “Corporate Lawyer”, practice of law and legal advice is not limited to service in the legal department; it may also include a member servicing other departments such as tax, intellectual property, government relations, compliance or corporate governance; and persons who at any time in the preceding 12 months met, but do not currently meet, the criteria for full membership are eligible to apply for full membership of ACC Australia for a period not exceeding 12 months (or such longer period as determined by the ACC Australia board in its absolute discretion).
