How to Be a Lawyer in Ontario
Lawyers play an important role in the Canadian judicial system as they do in judicial systems throughout the world. Becoming a lawyer in Canada takes many years and a significant amount of dedication. In order to be called to the bar in Canada a lawyer must complete the required education, pass examinations and serve a lengthy apprenticeship.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Complete the prerequisites for the lawyer licensing process. The prerequisites include graduating from a common law program at a university in Canada that has been approved by convocation or receiving a Certificate of Qualification that has been issued by the National Committee on Accreditation. The second option is generally used by people who received their law degrees at a university outside of Canada.
-
2
Complete the licensing examinations. You must pass two examinations that each last about seven hours. The first is an open book Barrister examination and tests for competency in the following areas: ethical and professional responsibility, knowledge of the law (public, criminal, family and civil) and establishing and maintaining the barrister-client relationship. The second examination is the Solicitor Examination, which tests for competencies in the areas of ethical and professional responsibility, knowledge of the law (real estate, business, wills, trusts and estate administration and planning) and establishing and maintaining the solicitor-client relationship.
-
-
3
Complete 10 months of articling. Articling is essentially an apprenticeship wherein the candidate for licensing must find a practicing lawyer to be her articling principal and supervise the period of articling. The candidate is paid during this time, although at a much lower pay rate than a lawyer.
-
4
Pay all required fees once all requirements have been met and attend a call to the bar ceremony.
-
1
References
- Photo Credit judge image by dinostock from Fotolia.com
