Introduction

Can my degree be comparable to a JD degree in Canada?

Do I need an LLM for practising in Canada? Or a J.D.?

Do I have to spend money and travel to Canada to take NCA exams in person?

Can I practice law in Canada after clearing the NCA examination?

I have passed the All-India-Bar exam in India, are foreign equivalency exams similar to that?

I am a first-generation lawyer in India, but I want to live and practice in a foreign jurisdiction, preferably an English speaking country with a legal system similar to that of India. 

I want to relocate to Canada because I have heard the country is very welcoming of immigrants. 

If these questions or thoughts come to your mind, we have launched our course that helps you in clearing the Barrister and Solicitor Examinations conducted by Law Society of Ontario every year.

This is recommended for those who have have cleared NCA examination or have taken our Test Prep course on NCA.

We are India’s first legal education company that is going to train students to take the LSO’s Barrister examination.

It is the next logical step after you have cleared NCA examination for Canada.

On successfully passing the NCA exams, the candidate is required to take Barrister and Solicitor examinations. These are the official bar examinations held in different provinces of Canada. 

We are launching this course to prepare for the Barrister and Solicitor Examination conducted by the Law Society of Ontario, the most common and popular examination given by Candidates from foreign jurisdiction.

We will ensure that you get the skills needed to first take and pass the NCA exams. 

Things to know before you fill your application form and pay the application fee:

• To be eligible to write the licensing examinations as a licensing process candidate, candidates must have
• graduated from a common law program approved by the Law Society at a university in Canada or received a Certificate of Qualification issued by the National Committee on Accreditation appointed by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada and the Committee of Canadian Law Deans;
• filed required licensing process application documents; and
• paid all required fees (or arranged to pay through a Monthly Payment Plan)
• To write a licensing examination, candidates must register for the licensing examination and schedule the licensing examination by the applicable deadlines.

You can read more about the eligibility requirements for LSO’s Barrister and Solicitor Examination here.

What does it take to get called to the Canadian Bar:

Canada follows a common law system in majority of its provinces except for the province of Quebec where a civil legal system is followed for all adjudicatory pruposes. A lawyer licensed to practice law in a non-Canadian jurisdiction or a law graduate from a non-Canadian law school can get licensed to practice law in a Canadian common law province by completing the first step of the process: Clearing the National Committee of Accreditation (NCA) process. 

A candidate must apply to the Federation of Law Societies of Canada (FLSC) and fill the application form costing 450 CAD (approx INR 27,000) plus taxes.

A candidate has to submit the application form, with law school transcripts, and a certificate of good standing from the bar council.
The NCA takes about 2 months to assess a candidate's application.

After NCA completes the assessment, the candidate takes the NCA recommended examinations by himself/herself or studies them at a university.

On successfully passing the NCA exams, the candidate is required to take Barrister and Solicitor examinations. These are the official bar examinations held in different provinces of Canada. 

It is here that we are launching this course to prepare our students for clearing the Barrister and Solicitor Examinaton for Ontario, the most common jurisdiction that foreign candidates apply and practice in.

Most candidates are required to undertake a year of articling with a lawyer licensed in Canada or to do the Lawyer’s Practice Program in Canada after clearing their Bar examinations. 

Finally, the candidate gets a call from the provincial law society to get their law license.

LawSikho shall be providing training to those who wish to clear the first and second step of this journey i.e. clearing the NCA examinations and clearing the barrister and solicitor examination. 

Certification

This course is recognized by the National Skill Development Corporation, a PPP under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship of the Government of India. You will receive a certificate cobranded by NSDC and Skill India on successful completion.

This is how the certificate from NSDC and Skill India will look as per the current applicable format (may change as per the approval authorities):

About LSO’s Barrister and Solicitor Examination

The Licensing Examination is conducted in two parts: Barrister Examination and Solicitor Examination - Each of these is of four hours with 30 minutes break in between the sections.

Broad Syllabus for Barrister Examination

• Civil Litigation - questions on the jurisdiction of Ontario courts, the Ontario Rules of Civil Procedure, and preparation for motions and trials.
• Family Law – questions on procedure under the Ontario Family Law Rules, spousal and child support, and the division of family property.
• Criminal Law - questions relating to the classification of criminal offences, judicial interim release, and the conduct of trials.
• Public Law - questions on constitutional and administrative law including the division of powers, the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and judicial review.
• Professional Responsibility -  questions on the regulation of the legal profession, the Ontario Law Society’s Rules of Professional Conduct, conflicts of interest, and practice management.

Broad Syllabus for Solicitors Examination

• Business Law - questions on business structures, financing, business transactions, corporate law, employment law and privacy law.
• Estate Planning-  questions on will drafting, powers of attorney, trusts, estate administration and estate litigation.
• Real Estate Law - questions on agreements of purchase and sale, real estate transactions, title searches, and real estate loan transactions.
• Professional Responsibility – questions on the regulation of the legal profession, the Ontario Law Society’s Rules of Professional Conduct, conflicts of interest, and practice management.

Format of the Examination

The Licensing Examinations are administered in an open-book format. Candidates are permitted to bring print materials (including study materials, notes, and textbooks) prepared for the purpose of assisting them in the writing of a Licensing Examination into the Testing Area.

All items on each Licensing Examination are in a multiple-choice format. Candidates must choose the best answer from four possible options provided. Each item has only one best answer, and candidates will receive credit only when they have selected the best answer. 

The items on each Licensing Examination assess the following three levels of cognitive ability:

Knowledge/Comprehension: the ability to recall facts, policies, procedures, and standards (e.g., citing the appropriate Rule in the Rules of Professional Conduct or Paralegal Rules of Conduct, as applicable);

Application: the ability to apply knowledge/comprehension in a straightforward applied situation (e.g., recognizing the appropriate procedure to employ when faced with a routine situation); and

Critical Thinking: the ability to apply knowledge/comprehension in complex applied situations, requiring analytical problem-solving in addition to knowledge/comprehension and application (e.g., selecting and prioritizing appropriate courses of action when faced with complex situations, or recognizing the relative importance of conflicting pieces of information and arriving at a conclusion requiring sound judgment).

Each Licensing Examination will include items in both independent multiple-choice and case-based multiple-choice format. Independent multiple-choice items are independent of each other. Case-based multiple-choice items are preceded by a case scenario that will also apply to other items; however, each item within the series of items preceded by that case scenario is derived directly from that case scenario and is independent of all the others. In other words, determining the correct answer to item #3 in a series of case-based items is not dependent on answering either of items #1 or #2 correctly.

There are no “all of the above” or “none of the above” multiple-choice options in Licensing Examination items.

For each sitting of each Licensing Examination, multiple different versions of the Licensing Examination may be developed and set. Each candidate who is registered for that sitting is randomly assigned a version of that Licensing Examination. Each version of the Licensing Examination complies with the blueprint parameters.

Each Licensing Examination is 4 hours and 30 minutes in length and comprises 160 multiple-choice items. The Licensing Examination will be broken into sections, by area of law. Candidates should ensure that they answer all items in each section.

What is unique about this course