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Qualifying in Canada through the NCA

If you studied law outside Canada, or studied civil law in Canada, the National Committee on Accreditation decides what you have to do before a law society will consider you. This page applies the rules the NCA publishes to your own history, and estimates how long each stage takes.

Who this is for

The NCA assesses anyone who holds a law degree from outside Canada, and anyone who holds a Canadian civil law degree. That includes Canadian citizens who studied abroad, newcomers who practised law before arriving, and people who are still deciding whether to move here. It compares what you have already done against what an approved Canadian law school teaches, and assigns whatever is missing.

Your route to a Certificate of Qualification

Answer seven questions about your own history. The chart applies the eight factors the NCA says it weighs, and estimates how long each stage takes.

  1. 1Legal system
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7

Which legal system did you study in?

What happens next, and how long each stage takes

  1. 1

    Apply to the NCA and be assessed

    About 8 weeks

    You pay $400 plus tax by credit card, take a language screening test, and have your law school send your transcripts. The NCA confirms your application within ten business days, and finishes the assessment about eight weeks after the last document arrives.

    How the NCA's process runs

  2. 2

    Clear the subjects you are assigned

    Depends on what you are assigned

    You choose how to clear them, and you can mix these three routes. Exam results come out ten to twelve weeks after the last exam in a session, and a subject taken as a course runs for one term.

    • Sit the NCA's own exams.
    • Take the assigned subjects as courses at a Canadian law school.
    • Do some of each.

    Exam dates and feesThe two ways to clear them

  3. 3

    Receive your Certificate of Qualification

    Issued once every subject is cleared

    The certificate does not expire, and it is not a Canadian law degree. It does not admit you to the bar either. What it does is let a law society consider you.

  4. 4

    Apply to a law society

    2 weeks to 3 months

    Every common law province and territory asks for the certificate, and each law society then sets its own requirements. Some limit how long you may wait between the certificate and your application, so check the one you are aiming at.

    What your law society asks forBar admission, on the NCA's site

  5. 5

    Article and be called to the bar

    8 to 12 months

    Most law societies ask for a term of supervised practical experience, a bar admission course or licensing examinations, and a review of your character before they call you to the bar.

    Articling jobs on the map

From applying to the NCA to being called to the barDepends on what you are assigned

The ten business days, the eight-week assessment and the ten to twelve week wait for exam results are times the NCA publishes. The other estimates are typical, so your own timing will be different.

Before you apply to the NCA (0 of 5)

Clearing the subjects you are assigned

Every subject the NCA assigns can be cleared in one of two ways. You choose per subject, so you can sit an exam for one and take a course for another.

Option 1. Sit the NCA's exam for that subject

  • They are open book, so you write with your materials in front of you.
  • Fifty per cent is a pass.
  • You choose your exam dates, and your start time is set about two weeks before the session.
  • Results come out ten to twelve weeks after the last exam in the session.
  • You cannot take a break in the first hour, and breaks after that are five minutes.
  • Cancelling costs $100 per exam, and you can cancel up to twenty-four hours beforehand.

Exam dates and what they cost, on the NCA's site

Neither option is the required one, and neither is faster for everybody. Exams cost less and let you set your own pace. A course gives you teaching and a class, and it costs what the law school charges.

After the certificate: getting called to the bar

What every law society asks for

  • Every law society asks for your Certificate of Qualification before it will consider you.
  • Most ask for a term of supervised practical experience, which is what articling is.
  • Most ask you to finish a bar admission course, to pass licensing examinations, or both.
  • All of them review your character and your history before they call you to the bar.
  • All of them charge licensing fees, and those are separate from anything you paid the NCA.

Once a law society calls you to the bar, the National Mobility Agreement between the law societies lets you work temporarily in most other common law provinces, and makes transferring to one of them simpler than qualifying there from the start.

Choose your province or territory

Every law society

Requirements change, and each law society publishes its own. Every link here opens that society's own pages.

Finding articling with a Certificate of Qualification

  1. 1Large firms recruit articling students up to two years ahead, through a formal process aimed at Canadian law students. Apply there if the timing works, and do not build your plan around it.
  2. 2Smaller firms and sole practitioners hire when they need somebody, often at a few weeks' notice, so apply when you are close to finishing rather than years ahead.
  3. 3Government departments, legal clinics and in-house teams take articling students too, and they advertise away from the firm recruitment season.
  4. 4Say in your first line that you hold a Certificate of Qualification, or when you expect it. A principal needs to know the date you can start.
  5. 5If you speak a language a firm's clients speak, say so early. It is a practical reason to hire you over somebody else.

Articling jobs on the mapFirms hiring nowWriting a cover letter

Everything on this page comes from the NCA's own published answers and its policy manual. The rules change, so check them before you act. The NCA's frequently asked questions · The NCA policy manual

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