The Law Institute of Victoria (LIV) has reported a five percent rise in memberships during the 2011 financial year.

As of June 30 the LIV had 16,879 members including 11,970 practicing membership holders and 2569 associated membership holders, representing an overall increase of 775 members. As a result of the changing needs of the legal profession the organisation introduced earlier this year three new associate categories: legal support, on leave and retired, to provide greater flexibility for legal practitioners seeking to retain membership. Overall the number of renewals grew two percent to 88 percent of members.

In the past year the LIV has also undertaken a program to assist lawyers with professional succession planning. This project is in response to a LIV survey which revealed that 87 per cent of those planning to leave their practice within the next 10 years had no documented succession plan. The average age of LIV members was 40 years old, with more than 50 percent of members under the 40 year mark.

The number of female members increased by just one percent compared to the previous year, up to 49 percent. However, just 10 years ago the number were much lower, with females representing only 34 percent of members.