How to Become a Notary Public in Ontario
Ontario's two notary routes: the lifetime lawyer and paralegal appointment and the 10-year non-lawyer appointment, with fees, the seal and stamp, and the limits on what you can notarize.
How to Become a Lawyer in Ontario
How to become a lawyer in Ontario: the LSO licensing process, the barrister and solicitor exams, articling or the LPP, and call to the bar.
Applies in: Ontario
The short answer
To become a lawyer in Ontario you earn a Juris Doctor from an approved Canadian common law program, apply to the Law Society of Ontario's (LSO) Lawyer Licensing Process, pass the Barrister and Solicitor Licensing Examinations, complete experiential training through articling or the Law Practice Program, and are called to the bar. The Law Society — not the law school, and not the Federation of Law Societies of Canada — licenses you to practise in Ontario. The law school awards the degree; the Federation accredits the program; the Law Society runs the application, the examinations, the experiential training, the good character assessment, and the call. Keep those three roles separate and the process stops being confusing.
This guide covers the domestic route only. If you earned your law degree outside Canada, or hold a Canadian civil law degree and seek admission in a common law province, the National Committee on Accreditation (NCA) step comes first — see the foreign law credentials guide and the NCA exam preparation guide. This guide is process information only and is not legal advice.
Step 1: Earn a JD from an approved common law program
The domestic route starts with a law degree from an approved Canadian common law program: a Juris Doctor (JD) or Bachelor of Laws (LLB). Every program must be accredited by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada before its graduates can be licensed. Ontario has eight JD programs: Lakehead (Bora Laskin), Queen's, Toronto Metropolitan University (Lincoln Alexander), Ottawa (common law), Toronto (Jackman), Windsor, Western, and York (Osgoode Hall). Admission goes through the Ontario Law School Application Service (OLSAS) — one central application for the Ontario schools — and weighs grades, the LSAT score, and a personal statement together, rather than relying on a single cutoff.
Two choices inside law school change your licensing route later. The first is the Integrated Practice Curriculum (IPC): Toronto Metropolitan University's JD builds practical legal training directly into the degree through simulations, coursework, and placements, and its graduates are not required to complete articling to be licensed in Ontario. If your JD included an IPC, you have already satisfied the experiential training component. The second is simply to confirm, before you enrol, that the program you choose is an approved Canadian common law program for Ontario licensing — a program completed by distance or online education can raise separate NCA in-person instruction questions, so do not assume every mode of study counts the same way.
Step 2: Apply to the Law Society's Lawyer Licensing Process
Once your educational requirements are met, you apply to enter the Lawyer Licensing Process. The application has two parts:
- The online application. You complete it through the Law Society's licensing portal and pay the non-refundable application fee. Along with personal information such as date of birth, proof of education, and proof of legal name, the online application asks questions concerning your "good character".
- The paper copy and supporting documents. You submit a paper copy of the application and supporting documentation to the Licensing Process, Licensing and Accreditation Department. Documents required include official transcripts confirming you graduated from an accredited law school with a JD or LLB, or a Certificate of Qualification issued by the NCA. All documents must be certified by a commissioner of oaths or a notary public.
The good character assessment starts with this application, and it is assessed through the application itself — 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. A licensing term governs when articling and examinations must be completed once you are registered; 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: Register for the Barrister and Solicitor Licensing Examinations
The licensing examinations are the Law Society's assessment of entry-level competence, and you must pass both to be licensed. There are two:
- The Barrister Licensing Examination, which focuses on litigation-side subjects including criminal, family, civil litigation, and related procedure.
- The Solicitor Licensing Examination, which focuses on transactional subjects such as real estate, estate planning, and business law, along with professional responsibility and client relations.
Both examinations are open-book and approximately four hours long. To be eligible to write them you must meet the academic requirements of the Licensing Process and pay the required fees — you register and pay for each examination separately, including the study materials for each. Do not plan around proposals to change the examinations: in September 2025 a Law Society committee proposed replacing the multiple-choice examinations with a mandatory skills-based course, but that proposal was under consultation with no decision to proceed, and the two-examination structure is the operative requirement. Confirm the current examination format, study materials, registration deadlines, and attempt rules on the Law Society's licensing examination pages before you register.
Step 4: Complete experiential training — articling
Experiential training is supervised practical work, and articling is the standard route. The articling term must be at least eight months and no longer than 10 months, full-time, supervised by a lawyer approved by the Law Society to act as a principal, and the experience must substantially deal with Ontario laws and practices. You are responsible for finding the placement: the Law Society's Articling Registry is its job board of posted placements, and a supervising lawyer may directly supervise no more than two licensing process candidates at any one time.
The filing discipline is what catches candidates. The Articling Placement Record is filed through LSO Connects no later than 10 business days after the articling start date, and end-of-placement details are filed no later than 10 business days after the placement ends. Retroactive articling credit will not be granted for late entry of placement information — file on time or the weeks do not count. 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.
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 — do not start the placement and seek approval afterwards.
Step 5: The alternatives — the Law Practice Program, or an IPC
If articling does not fit, Ontario recognizes two alternatives, and they are not interchangeable with each other:
- The Law Practice Program (LPP) replaces articling: a four-month training course followed by a four-month work placement under a principal, similar to articling. LPP candidates must still write the barrister and solicitor examinations. The program is delivered in an English stream by Toronto Metropolitan University and a French stream by the University of Ottawa, and candidates are not required to reside in Toronto or Ottawa to participate, provided they meet program and placement requirements. Confirm the current providers, registration deadline, and placement structure on the Law Society's pages, because providers and timetables change.
- An Integrated Practice Curriculum (IPC) completed as part of your JD or LLB satisfies the experiential training component outright — you need neither articling nor the LPP. This only applies if your degree program actually included an IPC; a standard JD without one does not qualify.
Choose the route before you commit to a placement search. Turning down articling offers to wait for an LPP place, or the reverse, is a planning decision with a real cost in months — confirm which alternatives exist in the current licensing year before you decline anything.
Step 6: Apply for call and admission
Call and admission is the final step, and it is an application, not an automatic consequence of passing the examinations. Once you have completed the licensing examinations, fulfilled articling or the LPP, filed all documents, and paid all required fees, you apply for a licence and are called to the bar at a Call to the Bar ceremony, receiving Law Society and court certificates. Do not accept work, open a file, or hold yourself out as a lawyer in Ontario until the call and admission are complete and the licence has issued. Confirm the current call dates, application package, and fee on the Law Society's pages for the licensing year in which you apply.
After admission, the obligations of a practising lawyer continue — including practice management, trust accounting where applicable, insurance, and continuing professional development. The Law Society requires lawyers and paralegals who are practising law or providing legal services to complete at least 12 hours of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) every year. The licensing process ends at the call; the CPD obligation starts with practice.
Figures this guide does not state
This guide states no Law Society application fee, examination fee, study-materials charge, experiential training fee, or call to the bar fee, because none could be verified on a Law Society of Ontario page. The Law Society's fees and forms page is the authority for every fee in this process; secondary summaries that state specific amounts were not carried, because the amounts change by licensing year and the summaries disagree. It states no examination question count, pass mark, or sitting schedule, and no LPP or articling salary or placement rate. Secondary summaries report a three-year licensing term and three attempts at each examination; neither was verified on a Law Society page and both are stated here only as unconfirmed reports — confirm them on the Law Society's pages before you plan around them. It states no law school tuition, admission statistic, or seat count.
Related guides
- How to become a lawyer in Canada — law degree, licensing, articling, and call to the bar — the national map: the same route compared across every province, with the NCA route kept separate.
- How to start getting your foreign law credentials recognized in Canada — the NCA assessment route for lawyers who trained outside Canada.
- How to start preparing for the NCA exams in Canada — the examination and course routes for NCA candidates working toward a Certificate of Qualification.
- How to become a paralegal in Ontario — the neighbouring Ontario licence: a separate Law Society licensing process with its own education and examination requirements.
From law graduate to licensed Ontario lawyer, in six steps
- Earn a JD from an approved common law programComplete a three-year Juris Doctor at a Federation-approved Ontario law school, usually after an undergraduate degree and the LSAT, applied for through OLSAS.
- Apply to the LSO Lawyer Licensing ProcessSubmit the two-part application — online, then a paper copy with supporting documents — and pay the non-refundable application fee.
- Register for the licensing examinationsRegister separately for the Barrister and the Solicitor Licensing Examinations, pay the fee and materials charge for each, and write them open-book.
- Complete experiential trainingArticle for at least eight and no more than 10 months under an approved principal, complete the Law Practice Program, or rely on an Integrated Practice Curriculum completed in your JD.
- Apply for call and admissionOnce the examinations and experiential training are complete and good character is established, apply for a licence and be called to the bar.
- Practise and keep up CPDAfter call, practising lawyers complete at least 12 hours of Continuing Professional Development every year.
Questions people ask
How is this guide different from the national guide to becoming a lawyer in Canada?
The national guide is the map: it compares the licensing routes across every province and territory and keeps the internationally educated NCA route separate. This guide is the Ontario mechanics only: the Law Society of Ontario's two-part licensing application, how the barrister and solicitor examinations are registered for, the articling placement record and filing windows, the Law Practice Program providers, and the call to the bar. If you are deciding which province to practise in, read the national guide first. If you have decided on Ontario, this guide is the one to follow step by step.
Do I need an undergraduate degree before law school in Ontario?
In practice, yes. Ontario JD programs are graduate professional degrees, and applicants apply through the Ontario Law School Application Service (OLSAS) with an undergraduate degree, LSAT score, and personal statement. A small number of mature or access-category applicants are admitted without a completed degree — Toronto Metropolitan University's Access Category, for example, admits applicants at least 26 years old with at least five years of uninterrupted non-academic experience — but that is an exception, not the standard route. Confirm the admission requirements of each law school you apply to; the Law Society does not set law school admission rules.
Can I article before I pass the barrister and solicitor examinations?
Yes. The two components of the Lawyer Licensing Process — the licensing examinations and experiential training — can be completed in either order, or at the same time. Many candidates article first and write the examinations during or after articling; candidates writing an examination during articling are entitled to up to seven business days without articling duties for the first attempt at each examination. What matters is that both components are complete, within the licensing term, before you apply for call and admission.
What is the Law Practice Program, and who runs it in Ontario?
The Law Practice Program (LPP) is the Law Society's alternative to articling: a four-month skills training course followed by a four-month work placement under a principal. It replaces the articling requirement, not the examinations — LPP candidates must still pass the barrister and solicitor examinations. The program is delivered in an English stream by Toronto Metropolitan University and a French stream by the University of Ottawa. You do not need to live in Toronto or Ottawa to participate, provided you meet the program and placement requirements. Confirm the current providers, registration deadline, and placement structure on the Law Society's pages, because they change.
What if I studied law outside Canada?
Then the National Committee on Accreditation (NCA) step comes before the Law Society's licensing process, and this guide's domestic steps do not apply until the NCA issues you a Certificate of Qualification. The NCA assesses your legal education and professional experience and assigns subjects or examinations you must complete. The guides on getting foreign law credentials recognized in Canada and on preparing for the NCA examinations cover that route in full. Do not apply to the Lawyer Licensing Process on a foreign degree alone, and do not assume an LL.M. or practice experience abroad substitutes for the Certificate of Qualification.
How long does the whole route take?
A typical domestic route is three years of law school, then a licensing year in which you complete the two examinations and either articling of eight to 10 months or the eight-month Law Practice Program. The Law Society sets a licensing term that governs when articling and examinations must be completed after you register for the licensing process — confirm the current term on the Law Society's pages when you apply, because this guide states no deadline. Secondary summaries report a three-year licensing term and three attempts at each examination, but neither figure was verified on a Law Society page, so treat them as unconfirmed until the Law Society's own pages say so.
Sources
- Legal Line, Lawyer licensing process — the two-part application, the good character questions, the two examinations, articling of eight to 10 months, the LPP structure, and the 12-hour annual CPD requirement.
- Law Society of Ontario, Fees and Forms — Lawyer Licensing Process — the authority for every application, examination, experiential training, and call fee in this process.
- Toronto Metropolitan University, Lincoln Alexander School of Law FAQ — Federation accreditation, the Access Category, and the IPC satisfying the experiential training requirement.
- McMaster University, Considering Law School? — OLSAS as Ontario's central application system, Federation accreditation, and the NCA route for foreign-trained lawyers.
- Carleton University, Law School handout — Ontario's eight JD programs and the Law Society of Ontario as the regulatory and licensing body.