Continuing education for lawyers: the AVOCATS.BE and OVB rules

The essentials

• The French-speaking bars and the German-speaking bar of Eupen follow the AVOCATS.BE rules: 60 points per period of three calendar years, now from 1 January 2026 to 31 December 2028.
• The Flemish bars and the Dutch-speaking Brussels bar follow the OVB rules: 20 points per judicial year, from 1 September to 31 August.
• Both regimes now require points in deontology and in anti-money laundering: 4 and 2 per period at AVOCATS.BE, 1 and 1 per judicial year at the OVB.
• At AVOCATS.BE only points encoded in LGO count. At the OVB, recognised trainings are added to the points card by themselves.

The tool CPD points still needed applies these rules to your own points and shows what is missing, by type and by deadline.

Which regime for your bar

AVOCATS.BE brings together ten bars: Brussels (French-speaking bar), Walloon Brabant, Charleroi, Eupen, Liège-Huy, Luxembourg, Mons, Namur-Dinant, Tournai and Verviers. The other bars of the country belong to the OVB, including the Dutch-speaking Brussels bar. In Brussels a lawyer therefore follows the rules of the bar where they are registered, not the language of their files.

A change of bar during the period is provided for in the AVOCATS.BE Code: the lawyer keeps their points until the end of the period, and the new bar's rules apply pro rata (art. 3.33). A move from one regime to the other is not settled expressly.

AVOCATS.BE: the 2026 to 2028 period

The Code de déontologie de l'avocat sets the continuing-education rules in arts. 3.26 to 3.35. The reference period is three calendar years from 1 January 2023: 2023 to 2025, then 2026 to 2028, then 2029 to 2031 (art. 3.35).

Over a period the lawyer obtains at least 60 points, of which at least 10 each calendar year (art. 3.27 §1). A bar may raise that yearly minimum to 20; no decision to that effect has been published so far. The yearly minimum counts points of any type and cannot be made up: a surplus in 2027 does not cover a shortfall in 2026.

At least 36 points of the period are legal, including at least 4 in deontology and 2 in the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing. Deontology and AML points therefore count among the 36 legal points. The rest may cover non-legal subjects useful to practice: 24 points at most.

Each point must be encoded by the lawyer on the LGO platform (art. 3.32 §1). AVOCATS.BE puts it simply: a point not encoded does not exist. The bar council checks the obligation and may summon the lawyer, grant a delay to regularise, suspend them from a specialised legal-aid section or remove them from a list of preferred activities (art. 3.32 §2). Nothing carries over from one period to the next.

OVB: the judicial year

The Codex Deontologie voor Advocaten sets the rules on permanente vorming in arts. 52 to 57. The lawyer obtains 20 points per judicial year (art. 53). Since 2 October 2025, and so from the judicial year 2025–2026, at least 1 of these 20 points is in deontology and at least 1 in anti-money laundering. Before that change the rule was 2 deontology points per five judicial years.

In-house closed trainings, reserved for the members of a firm or a network, count for 10 points at most per year. Teaching a legal course and academic-level legal lectures earn 2 points per hour, 20 points at most each. A legal publication of at least 2,500 words earns 4 points per block of 2,500 words.

A year's surplus carries over to the next, and the total carry-over never exceeds 40 points. The OVB moves the 2025–2026 surplus to the 2026–2027 card at the end of October or early November 2026: until then the card shows only the current year's points.

Recognised trainings are added to the points card by their organisers. For teaching, lectures, publications and trainings that are not recognised, the lawyer files an individual request by the 30 September after the judicial year (art. 57).

Trainees, dispensations and partial years

At AVOCATS.BE, trainees have been subject to continuing education since 1 January 2026, from their registration on the list. CAPA course hours count for one point per hour attended (art. 3.26). A lawyer who starts, suspends or resumes practice during the period owes fewer points pro rata temporis (art. 3.33), but the Code does not set the method. A full or partial dispensation may be requested from the bar council with a reasoned request (art. 3.31).

At the OVB, trainees are exempt during the first three years of stage; points earned in that time carry over without a cap. The stafhouder may grant an exemption on sound grounds, such as illness or parental leave, for one judicial year, renewable. The Codex sets no pro rata for a partial year.

Worked examples

A lawyer in Liège on 7 October 2026. They have 14 points for 2026, 2 of them in deontology. The 2026 minimum is met. Over the period 46 points are missing: at least 22 legal points, including 2 in deontology and 2 in anti-money laundering, and at least 10 points in 2027 and 10 in 2028.

A lawyer in Antwerp on 7 October 2026. Her card shows 22 points for the judicial year 2026–2027, 1 of them in anti-money laundering and none in deontology. The total is met, but she still needs 1 deontology point before 31 August 2027. Once that point is earned, 3 points will carry over to the next year.

A trainee in Ghent registered on 1 September 2025. He is exempt until 31 August 2028, the end of his first three years of stage. The points he earns until then carry over without a cap.

What the tool does not cover

• The exact AVOCATS.BE pro rata method, which the Code does not set: the tool counts a started month as a full month and says so.
• A particular bar's yearly minimum of 20 points: choose it yourself if your bar applies it.
• Whether carried points at the OVB cover the deontology and AML minimums: the tool counts them for the total only.
• The minimums of the youth section and the Salduz duty roster, and the OVB publication points.

The tools assist the lawyer, who remains responsible for checking their bar's rules.

Sources

• AVOCATS.BE, Code de déontologie de l'avocat, version in force on 30 April 2026, arts. 3.26 to 3.35. Checked on 7 October 2026.
• AVOCATS.BE, continuing education: obligations and points; LGO platform. Checked on 7 October 2026.
• OVB, Codex Deontologie voor Advocaten, arts. 52 to 57. Checked on 7 October 2026.
• OVB, every year one deontology point and one AML point (10 October 2025); transfer of the 2025–2026 points (15 September 2026). Checked on 7 October 2026.