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Path to Practice in Canada

Pathway to Practice for Foreign Trained Lawyers in Canada.

Apply to the NCA

Apply to the NCA for assessment of legal qualifications.

Complete NCA requirements

Complete NCA exams, course work or law school program as outlined in your NCA assessment.

Once complete, you will receive your Certification of Qualification.

Complete your articles

Secure an articling placement for 8 to 12 months. You must also apply for and complete a bar admission course.

Get called to the Bar

Once your articles and bar admissions course are complete, you need to arrange to be called to the bar and to apply to the relevant law society for a licence to practise law.

Route Map

First Thing First: obtain NCA Assessment

Complete the online assessment application form at NCA official website.

Documentation Required for Assessment

Arrange to have sent, by the school that issued them, official transcripts (detailed mark sheets) for your legal education.

And, if you are a lawyer, arrange to have sent, an Official letter or certificate of good standing from the bar association or bar council.

Assessment Fee

$400.00 CDN, plus taxes.

Valid Period

NCA assessment is valid for five (5) years once issued.

FTLP of UC: Admission Requirements

The introduction below is centered around the program offered by the University of Calgary. University of Alberta in Edmonton and University of British Columbia are also offering similar programs. Please click on the links above for details.

The Foreign Trained Lawyers Program (FTLP) is a 12-month Post-bachelor’s Certificate offered by the Faculty of Law at the University of Calgary for internationally trained lawyers who wish to become accredited to practice common law in Canada.

This is an off-line, full-time, and dedicated1 program toward obtaining a license to practice in Canada.

The minimum requirements for admission to the FTLP Post-Bachelor's certificate are:

Program Requirements

Students in the FTLP must complete the following 24 units of coursework achieving a satisfactory performance:

Code Name
Law 420 Foundations of Canadian Law
Law 430 Professional Development
Law 400 Constitutional Law
Law 410 Crime: Law & Procedure
Law 503 Administrative Law
Law 510 Ethical Lawyering

Successful completion of Law 400, 410, 420, 503 and 510 fulfills the educational requirements of the five core subjects in the Canadian-specific content outlined by the NCA in its Policy Manual March 31, 2023, section 5.2.

Satisfactory performance in Faculty of Law courses is a C- or higher.

Study Permit

Contact the International Student Services Office for information about study permit and other immigration matters. The Program representatives cannot provide advice regarding immigration issues.

Application Deadline

The graduate school has yet released the deadlines to apply for admission of cohort 2025-2026.

However, we know that for 2024-2025 cohort, deadline for Canadian citizens and Permanent Residents closed on May 31, 2024, and for International Students closed on January 29, 2024.

  1. Foreign Trained Lawyers Program of University of Calgary

  1. Which means unless approved by NCA separately, an LL.M. program cannot replace this program. ↩