How to Start in Canada

How to Become a Lawyer in Canada — Law Degree, Licensing, Articling, and Call to the Bar

The domestic route to practising law in Canada: a Canadian common law degree, the law society licensing process in the province where you will practise, experiential training through articling or an approved alternative, and call and admission, with the internationally educated NCA route kept separate.

Written November 1, 2026 · 21 min read

Applies in: across Canada

This guide covers one route only: a student who earns a law degree in Canada, completes the licensing process of the law society in the province where they will practise, and is called to the bar and admitted as a solicitor in that province. It is not the route for a lawyer who trained outside Canada, it is not the route to becoming a paralegal, and it is not legal advice. The internationally educated route runs through the National Committee on Accreditation and is kept separate in this guide, in its own step, so that no NCA requirement is mistaken for a domestic requirement. The foreign-law and NCA-preparation guides linked below describe that route in full. If you are already licensed in another country or another Canadian province, start with the transfer and mobility pages of the law society where you intend to practise, not with the domestic steps below.

Three layers divide the work, and confusing them is the expensive mistake. The law school awards the degree. The National Committee on Accreditation, where it applies at all, certifies that a foreign or civil law education meets the Canadian common law standard. The law society licenses you to practise in its province. The law society is the authority for the licensing examinations or bar admission course, the experiential training requirement, good character, and call and admission in its jurisdiction. This guide follows that order: degree, law society licensing process, then call. Fees, sitting dates, and application deadlines sit on each law society's pages and change by cycle; this guide states no fee or deadline except the NCA examination fee verified on the NCA's own page, and points to the law society pages for the rest.

Step 1: Earn a Canadian common law degree, or a civil law degree for Quebec

The domestic common law route starts with a law degree from an approved Canadian common law program: a Juris Doctor (JD) or Bachelor of Laws (LLB). The Law Society of British Columbia states the academic qualification for first call and admission as a Canadian common law degree or a Certificate of Qualification issued by the National Committee on Accreditation, with rare exceptions under its rules. The Law Society of Ontario's articling page states the same starting point from the other end: candidates registered in the Lawyer Licensing Process may begin articling upon completion of a JD or LLB or receipt of an NCA Certificate of Qualification. Admission requirements, prerequisite undergraduate study, and application deadlines sit with each law school and are not stated in this guide. Confirm that the program you enrol in is an approved Canadian common law program for the province where you intend to seek licensing, and confirm whether a program completed by distance or online education satisfies the NCA in-person instruction requirements if that question could ever apply to you; the NCA's assignments page states that distance or online law degrees are assessed under section 7 of its policies, including in-person instruction requirements that can add up to two years of in-person instruction. A law degree earned remotely, described in the remote law-degree guide linked below, is a different planning question from the domestic in-person degree described here.

Quebec follows a different degree route. Quebec is a civil law jurisdiction. The Barreau du Québec's student page states that to become a lawyer you take several steps, including practical professional training at the École du Barreau (Quebec Bar School), followed by an articling period. The domestic Quebec route starts from a Quebec civil law degree. Do not enrol in a common law program expecting it to be the Quebec domestic route, and do not enrol in a civil law program expecting it to admit you directly to a common law province without the NCA step described below. The Quebec step in this guide, Step 6, states only what the Barreau page verifies; the Barreau's prospective-member pages govern the rest.

Step 2: Register with the law society licensing process

Register with the law society in the province where you will practise, and do it on that law society's timetable, not on a generic one. Each law society runs its own licensing process with its own application, deadlines, and licensing term, and the process is where the good character, fitness, and repute assessment begins. The Law Society of British Columbia states that after the academic qualification, it will assess whether the applicant meets the good character, fitness and repute requirement in section 19 of the Legal Profession Act, and that the applicant must then show competence through supervised practical experience and the approved bar admission training course. The Law Society of Ontario's licensing process includes a good character requirement alongside the examinations and experiential training, assessed through the application. Disclose fully and early: the assessment covers character and conduct, and a late or incomplete disclosure is a worse problem than a disclosed history handled through the proper process. Keep the licensing term in view from registration. In British Columbia, pre-admission components and the call and admission application package must be completed within a 24-month admission period, measured from the earlier of the articling start date or training program start date to the date of the call and admission application. In Ontario, the licensing term governs when articling and examinations must be completed; confirm the current term, application deadline, and examination registration deadlines on the Law Society's pages, because they change by licensing year and this guide states no date.

Step 3: Complete experiential training — articling, LPP, IPC, or clerkship

Experiential training is supervised practical work, and its form depends on the province. In Ontario, candidates may article under the supervision of an approved supervising lawyer, and the articling term is currently required to be at least eight months and no longer than 10 months. Candidates are responsible for finding an articling placement supervised by a lawyer approved by the Law Society to act as a principal, and the Articling Registry is the Law Society's job board of posted placements. Ontario articling is a full-time position that must be completed within the licensing term, supervised by an approved principal providing an experience that substantially deals with Ontario laws and practices, with an Articling Placement Record filed through LSO Connects no later than 10 business days after the articling start date, and end-of-placement details filed no later than 10 business days after the placement ends; retroactive articling credit will not be granted for late entry of placement information. Joint articling under two or more approved principals, part-time articling equivalent to the full-time minimum term, and national or international articling in another jurisdiction or outside Canada are all recognized forms, each with its own approval and filing rules; a national or international placement cannot begin until the Law Society approves the service request submitted before the start date. During articling, the Law Society recognizes a maximum of 10 business days off, and candidates writing a licensing examination during articling are entitled to up to seven business days without articling duties for the first attempt at each examination, with those days counting towards recognized time off. A lawyer may directly supervise no more than two licensing process candidates at any one time.

Ontario recognizes two alternatives to articling. The Law Practice Program (LPP) is a pathway that offers a skills-building and assessment program plus a four-month legal work placement, replacing the articling requirement; LPP candidates must still write the barrister and solicitor examinations. Candidates who completed an Integrated Practice Curriculum (IPC) as part of their JD or LLB have satisfied the experiential training component and are not required to complete articling or the LPP, as the Law Society's articling page states. Confirm the current LPP providers, registration deadline, and placement structure on the Law Society's pages, because providers and timetables change, and this guide states no LPP date or fee.

In British Columbia, the supervised experience component is nine months of supervised practical experience, which may be an articling term, a judicial clerkship, or a combination of the two, completed alongside the training course and within the 24-month admission period. A lawyer with practice experience in a common law jurisdiction outside Canada who has completed the NCA route may apply for a reduction in the nine-month term or an exemption from all or part of PREP. In the other provinces, articling lengths and course structures differ: the Osgoode licensing-timelines chart summarizes 12 months of articling with PREP in Manitoba, a Bar Admissions Course running alongside articling in Newfoundland and Labrador, and PREP alongside articling in Nova Scotia, but this guide does not present those summaries as verified law society text, and the law society in each province governs. Whatever the province, keep the placement record, principal declarations, and any clerkship reports exact and on time; the Law Society of British Columbia's call and admission package requires the petition, the principal's declaration, and, for law clerks, a written report on character and competence from the judge for whom the applicant clerked.

Step 4: Pass the licensing assessment — Ontario examinations, British Columbia PREP, and the rest

The licensing assessment is where the provinces diverge most sharply, and the divergence is the point. In Ontario, candidates must pass two licensing examinations: the Barrister Licensing Examination and the Solicitor Licensing Examination. The examinations are the Law Society's assessment of entry-level competence, and candidates must pass both to be licensed. This guide states no question count, duration, format detail, pass mark, or sitting schedule for the examinations, because none was verified on a Law Society of Ontario page linked in Sources, and secondary summaries disagree on question counts. Confirm the current examination format, study materials, registration deadlines, and attempt rules on the Law Society's licensing examination pages before you register, and treat the September 2025 skills-based-course proposal described in the FAQ as a proposal under consultation, not as the current rule.

In British Columbia, there is no separate written bar examination under the current regime described on the Law Society's licensing page. The approved bar admission training course is the Practice Readiness Education Program (PREP), and the Law Society states that PREP is its approved bar admission training course, completed alongside the nine months of supervised experience. The Law Society announced it would retire the Professional Legal Training Course (PLTC) in 2026 and adopt PREP, with PREP requiring a two-week Capstone Evaluation at the end of the program and no written legal knowledge examinations. Confirm the current PREP application cycle, schedule, and Capstone Evaluation dates on the Law Society's and CPLED's pages, because the transition from PLTC to PREP is recent and this guide states no PREP date. In the western provinces that use CPLED's PREP, the program runs alongside articling with Capstone assessments; in provinces with a Bar Admissions Course, the course runs alongside articling on the law society's timetable. In every province, complete the assessment the law society prescribes for that province, and do not carry an Ontario examination strategy, a British Columbia PREP schedule, or another province's course dates into a different jurisdiction.

Step 5: Apply for call and admission

Call and admission is the final step, and it is an application, not an automatic consequence of passing the assessment. In British Columbia, an applicant is eligible to apply for call and admission once the supervised practice experience, the training course, the Bencher interview, and the Practice Management Course are complete, and the application must be submitted at least 30 days before the anticipated call date, with the call and admission fee paid, even if articles or PREP will complete within the next month; a late, incomplete, or undocumented application can delay the desired call date. All applicants seeking practising membership must also complete the indemnity application for their practice status, and the Law Society must be satisfied of good character, repute, and fitness before call. In Ontario, candidates who have completed the licensing examinations and experiential training apply for a licence and are called to the bar at a Call to the Bar ceremony, receiving Law Society and court certificates. Confirm the current call dates, application package, and fee on the law society's pages for the province where you will be called, and do not accept work, open a practice, or hold yourself out as a lawyer in that province until the call and admission are complete and the licence has issued. After admission, the obligations of a practising lawyer — including practice management, trust accounting where applicable, insurance, and continuing professional development — are governed by the law society's rules for licensees, and this guide does not state them, because they sit outside the licensing process.

Step 6: Quebec — the Barreau route, stated only as the Barreau states it

Quebec's route is stated here only to the extent the Barreau du Québec's own pages verify it, and no common law fact in this guide should be read into Quebec. To become a lawyer in Quebec, you take several steps, including practical professional training at the École du Barreau (Quebec Bar School), followed by an articling period, during which you can perform any act reserved for lawyers under the supervision of an articling supervisor. The Committee for Access to the Profession exercises its powers continuously from the time applicants apply for admission to the École de formation professionnelle until they apply to be entered on the Roll of the Order, and the permit to practise is issued based on the Committee's report; applicants whose files require no inquiry by the Committee may be entered on the Roll without ever being called before it. Applicants must demonstrate knowledge of French, and the Barreau's full-permit page for Canadian lawyers states that applications for admission include documents attesting to knowledge of French, along with proof of identity and a Canadian police clearance. The Barreau's pages for students and prospective members govern the degree, Bar School, articling, examination, and Roll requirements in full. This guide states no Bar School duration, articling length, examination subject, or fee for the domestic Quebec route, because none was verified on a Barreau page linked in Sources; the older secondary summaries that state a four-month Bar School period and a six-month articling period were not carried for that reason. Start on the Barreau's student page, follow its admissions-office instructions, and confirm the current requirements in French and English as the Barreau publishes them.

Step 7: The internationally educated route, kept separate — the NCA

If you earned your law degree outside Canada, or hold a Canadian civil law degree and seek admission in a common law province, the NCA step comes before the law society licensing process, and it is a separate assessment with its own assignments and timetable. The NCA assesses legal education and professional experience, and after assessment assigns requirements that the applicant meets by writing NCA examinations, completing assigned subjects at a Canadian law school, or a combination of the two. The NCA generally assigns five core common law subject areas to all applicants: Canadian Administrative Law, Canadian Constitutional Law, Canadian Criminal Law, Canadian Professional Responsibility, and Foundations of Canadian Law, plus the NCA legal research and writing module with CPLED, and may assign additional subjects based on qualifications. Applicants must successfully complete their assignments within five years of the date the assessment was issued, with an extension available on request with reasons. NCA examinations are proctored online, fact-based, open-book, and three hours long, graded pass or fail with 50 percent as a pass, offered twelve times a year, at $500.00 Canadian plus taxes per examination, with results released about 10 to 12 weeks from the date of the last examination of each session, and three attempts (a first attempt and two re-writes) with a fourth attempt available as explained in section 17.2 of the NCA policies.

Two requirements apply to all NCA applicants and to no domestic Canadian common law graduate. First, all NCA applicants are required to demonstrate competence in Indigenous Law and Peoples (subsection 10.5), fulfilled through a module offered by CPLED or an NCA-approved course at a recognized Canadian law school. Second, unless exempted, all NCA applicants must complete a language competency screening test in English or French before their qualifications are assessed, with the cost of the screen included in the assessment fee and accessed through a link provided by the NCA; the NCA's page refers applicants to section 11 of the Policy Manual, the Language Proficiency Requirement, for the minimum scores for each accepted test. This guide states no screening test name, score, or exemption test list, because those details sit in the Policy Manual and interpretive documents, which are not stated on the linked regulator page, and secondary summaries of the March 2026 changes were not carried as primary text. If you studied in a non-common law jurisdiction, the NCA also requires common law training or education, which may be met through an LL.M., individual courses, licensing in a common law jurisdiction, or certification as a paralegal or notary in a common law jurisdiction, with the Executive Director holding sole discretion on credit. If you hold a Canadian civil law degree, the NCA will usually ask you to show competence in Contracts, Torts, Property, and Canadian Professional Responsibility where not already completed, and will automatically issue a Certificate of Qualification on review of a completed application where you hold a qualifying law degree from a Canadian civil law school and a Barreau licence. Once the NCA issues the Certificate of Qualification, the applicant enters the law society licensing process of the chosen province on the same footing as a Canadian graduate for the examinations, experiential training, and call steps above. The NCA exam-preparation guide linked below describes the examination and course routes in detail; the foreign-law-credentials guide describes the assessment application.

Step 8: The other provinces and territories — confirm on the law society's page

For Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut, this guide states no province-specific articling length, course name, examination, or call timetable beyond what is stated above, because no law society page for those jurisdictions could be verified. What is verified is the structure: each province and territory licenses through its own law society or barristers' society, each requires a Canadian common law degree or an NCA Certificate of Qualification as the academic starting point, each imposes a good character assessment, and each prescribes its own combination of supervised experience and bar admission training or examinations. Several provinces use CPLED's PREP as the bar admission training course, and the Law Society of British Columbia's licensing page confirms PREP as the approved course for British Columbia; which other provinces use PREP, and on what cycle, must be confirmed on each law society's pages, because program adoption has changed recently. For the territories, confirm on the territorial law society's pages whether the route runs through a neighbouring province's program, a local examination such as the Northwest Territories Statutes Examination, or a certificate of entitlement, rather than assuming a provincial route transfers unchanged. In every jurisdiction, the law society's licensing pages, not a university chart or a preparation provider's summary, govern.

Figures this guide does not state

This guide states no law school tuition, admission statistic, or seat count, and no law society application, examination, articling, LPP, PREP, Bar School, or call fee, except the NCA examination fee of $500.00 Canadian plus taxes verified on the NCA's own assignments page. It states no examination question count, duration, pass mark, or sitting schedule for any law society examination, no LPP or PREP duration, fee, or application deadline, no articling salary or placement rate, and no timeline for completing the licensing process beyond the British Columbia 24-month admission period and the NCA five-year assignment period stated above. It states no Bar School duration, Quebec articling length, examination subject, or fee for the domestic Quebec route, and no NCA language screening test name, score, or exemption list, for the reasons given in the steps above. It states no articling length, course name, examination, or call timetable for Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, or Nunavut beyond the structure stated in Step 8. Where a figure is left out, the guide points to the law society or NCA page that owns it instead of carrying a secondary source's number. This guide is process information only and is not legal advice; confirm every fee, deadline, and requirement on the law society's own pages on the day you register or pay.

Related guides:

From a law student to a licensed lawyer in Canada, in five moves

  1. Earn a Canadian common law degreeComplete a JD or LLB from an approved Canadian common law program. In Quebec, the domestic route starts from a civil law degree instead, through the Barreau du Québec.
  2. Register with the law societyApply to the law society licensing process in the province where you will practise, and meet its good character, fitness, and repute requirements.
  3. Complete experiential trainingComplete articling or the approved alternative in your province: articling of at least eight and no more than 10 months in Ontario, nine months of supervised practice in British Columbia, or the bar admission course or program your law society prescribes.
  4. Pass the licensing assessmentIn Ontario, pass the Barrister and Solicitor Licensing Examinations. In British Columbia, complete PREP, the Practice Readiness Education Program, with its Capstone Evaluation. Other provinces follow their own law society's assessment.
  5. Apply for call and admissionApply for call to the bar and admission as a solicitor once experiential training and the licensing assessment are complete, within the admission period your law society sets.

Questions people ask

Is this the guide for me if I earned my law degree outside Canada?

No, not as your main route. This guide covers the domestic route: a Canadian common law degree, then the law society licensing process. If you earned your law degree outside Canada, or in a Canadian civil law program and seek admission in a common law province, you must first go through the National Committee on Accreditation (NCA), which assesses your legal education and professional experience and assigns the subjects, modules, language screening, and Indigenous Law and Peoples requirement you must complete before a law society will admit you to its licensing process. The foreign-law-credentials guide and the NCA exam-preparation guide linked below describe that route. Do not plan a domestic application around NCA steps, and do not assume a foreign degree, an LL.M., or practice experience abroad substitutes for the NCA Certificate of Qualification.

Do I have to article, or can I take a course instead?

It depends on the province, and the alternative replaces only the experiential training component, not the whole licensing process. In Ontario you may article under an approved principal for at least eight and no more than 10 months, complete the Law Practice Program (LPP), or, if you completed an Integrated Practice Curriculum (IPC) as part of your JD or LLB, you have already satisfied the experiential training component and need neither articling nor the LPP. In British Columbia you complete nine months of supervised practical experience, which may be an articling term, a judicial clerkship, or a combination, alongside PREP. In several other provinces the bar admission training is a course run alongside articling, such as CPLED's Practice Readiness Education Program (PREP) in the western provinces or a Bar Admissions Course elsewhere. Confirm on your law society's pages which alternatives exist in that province, whether clerkship time counts, and what reduction or exemption prior legal experience may support, before you decline an articling offer in favour of a course.

Are the Ontario barrister and solicitor examinations being abolished?

Not as a decided change verified for this guide. In September 2025 the Law Society of Ontario's Professional Development and Competence Committee proposed replacing the current multiple-choice barrister and solicitor examinations with a mandatory skills-based course with assessments for all licensing candidates, and the Law Society sought feedback on that proposal. Reporting and association responses since then describe the proposal as under consultation, with no decision to proceed verified on a Law Society page linked in Sources. The current, operative position described in this guide is the existing one: two licensing examinations, Barrister and Solicitor. Do not plan around the proposal, defer an examination sitting in expectation of it, or treat commentary about it as the current rule. Check the Law Society of Ontario's licensing pages for the current examination requirement on the day you register.

How does becoming a lawyer in Quebec differ from the common law provinces?

Quebec is a civil law jurisdiction, and its route is separate from the common law route in the rest of Canada. The Barreau du Québec states that to become a lawyer you take several steps, including practical professional training at the École du Barreau (Quebec Bar School), followed by an articling period under an articling supervisor, during which you may perform acts reserved for lawyers under supervision. The domestic Quebec route starts from a Quebec civil law degree, not from a Canadian common law degree, and admission to the Barreau follows its own process, including the Committee for Access to the Profession and French language requirements. A lawyer already licensed in another Canadian province follows a different, mobility-based permit route to the Barreau, with knowledge examinations. Do not carry common law degree, NCA, articling-length, or bar examination facts into a Quebec application; start on the Barreau du Québec's student and prospective-member pages.

What is the NCA March 2026 change, and does it apply to Canadian law graduates?

It does not apply to Canadian common law graduates. The change applies to applicants to the National Committee on Accreditation, that is, internationally educated lawyers seeking accreditation. On the NCA's own assignments page, all NCA applicants are required to demonstrate competence in Indigenous Law and Peoples (subsection 10.5 of the Policy Manual), through a module offered by the Canadian Centre for Professional Legal Education (CPLED) or an NCA-approved course at a recognized Canadian law school, and, unless exempted, must complete a language competency screening test in English or French before their qualifications are assessed, with the cost of the screen included in the assessment fee. A Canadian graduate of an approved common law program does not go through the NCA and does not complete those two requirements as licensing steps. If you hold a Canadian civil law degree and seek a Certificate of Qualification for a common law province, the NCA page states the subjects the NCA will usually ask you to show competence in, and that holding a Barreau licence with a qualifying civil law degree leads to automatic issuance of a Certificate of Qualification on review of a completed application.

Can I practise in another province once I am licensed in one?

Licensing is provincial, and mobility between provinces is governed by the law societies' mobility rules, not by a single national licence. The Barreau du Québec publishes a full-permit route for Canadian lawyers licensed in another province or territory, with an application reviewed by the Committee for Access to the Profession, knowledge examinations, and proof of French knowledge. The Law Society of British Columbia publishes transfer rules for lawyers transferring from another Canadian jurisdiction and from outside Canada, with the NCA Certificate of Qualification required for degrees earned outside Canada or in civil law. In every case, confirm the destination law society's transfer or mobility requirements, including any examinations, articling credit, good character assessment, and language requirements, before you accept work, open a file, or hold yourself out as licensed in the second province. Holding a licence in one province does not by itself authorize practice in another.

Keep going

Work

How to Become a Court Reporter in Canada — stenography, certification, and authorized transcripts

The domestic route to becoming a court reporter in Canada: the live stenographic reporter, the court transcriptionist, and the scopist or proofreader kept as separate occupations; Alberta's CSR(A) route and the paused NAIT program, British Columbia's official and authorized reporter process, Ontario's Authorized Court Transcriptionist list, and Quebec's roll of stenographers. Administrative process only.

Sources

  • Law Society of Ontario, "Articling" — the articling term of at least eight and no more than 10 months, placement records and 10-business-day filing rules, joint, part-time, national, and international articling, time-off and examination-study policies, the IPC exemption from articling and the LPP, and the two-candidate supervision limit.
  • Law Society of British Columbia, "Licensing" — the academic qualification (Canadian common law degree or NCA Certificate of Qualification), the good character, fitness and repute assessment, nine months of supervised practical experience, PREP as the approved bar admission training course, and the 24-month admission period.
  • Law Society of British Columbia, "Apply for call and admission" — eligibility for call and admission, the 30-day application lead time, the Bencher interview and Practice Management Course, the indemnity application, and the good character assessment at call.
  • Law Society of British Columbia, "Transfer to BC from Outside Canada" — the NCA Certificate of Qualification requirement for degrees earned outside Canada or in civil law, and the possible reduction in the articling term or exemption from PREP for lawyers with common law practice experience.
  • Barreau du Québec, "I am a student" — practical professional training at the École du Barreau followed by an articling period under an articling supervisor.
  • Barreau du Québec, "Access to the profession" — the Committee for Access to the Profession, its continuous powers from Bar School admission to the Roll, and the permit issuing on the Committee's report.
  • Barreau du Québec, "Full permit for Canadian lawyers" — the mobility permit for Canadian lawyers licensed in another province or territory, the knowledge examinations, proof of French knowledge, and the Committee for Access to the Profession review.
  • Federation of Law Societies of Canada (NCA), "Assignments" — the five core subjects plus the legal research and writing module, the five-year assignment period, examination cost ($500.00 Canadian plus taxes), frequency, format, pass mark, results timing, and re-write rules, the Indigenous Law and Peoples requirement (subsection 10.5), the language competency screening requirement (section 11), and the civil law, non-common law, and distance-education rules.

Figures that could not be verified on an official page are left out of this guide: all law school tuition, admission, and seat figures; all law society application, examination, articling, LPP, PREP, Bar School, and call fees except the NCA examination fee above; all examination question counts, durations, pass marks, and sitting schedules; all LPP and PREP durations, fees, and deadlines; all articling salary and placement figures; all Bar School durations, Quebec articling lengths, examination subjects, and fees for the domestic Quebec route; all NCA language screening test names, scores, and exemption lists; and all articling lengths, course names, examinations, and call timetables for Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut beyond the structure stated above. Check the law society and NCA pages linked above for current figures and steps before you register or pay.

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