– Canada – Get Into Law

Canada’s Law Societies

In Canada, the legal profession is regulated, licensed and disciplined by each province and territory, with each province and territory governed by their own respective law society. Every lawyer in Canada and notary in Quebec is required by law to be a member of a law society and to be governed by its rules. Click on the link to find the societies and links to their websites.

The Federation of Law Societies of Canada – http://flsc.ca/

FLSC is the national coordinating body for Canada’s 14 provincial and territorial law societies. Learn More. It plays a coordinating role among its member law societies, promotes the development of national standards, encourages the harmonization of law society rules and procedures, and undertakes national initiatives as directed by its members, among other activities. Learn More.

Canadian Bar Association – http://www.cba.org/Home

In addition, the legal profession is represented by the Canadian Bar Association nationally, which has branches in every province and territory in Canada. The CBA is a professional voluntary organization that advocates for all its members.

You can find a link to each province and territory’s respective law society and CBA branch here – http://www.cba.org/Who-We-Are/Branches

Qualifying in Canada

The National Committee on Accreditation (NCA) assesses the legal education credentials of individuals trained outside of Canada who intend to apply for admission to a law society in a Canadian common law jurisdiction. You will find all you need to know on this page http://flsc.ca/national-committee-on-accreditation-nca/

Establishing Links with Legal Canada from the UK

How KLS can help:

The KLS Professional Mentoring Scheme includes a small number of lawyers in Canada; all whom have undertaken an senior status LLB at KLS before returning to Canada for professional qualification. The mentoring programme runs from October – April each year and applications are open from May.
Work experience – we have occasional opportunities. We are trying to increase these opportunities so please think of us after you have left KLS and in a position to help out.
Join the Canadian Law Society. CLS runs lots of workshops to help you understand the process of qualifying in Canada. They are also in touch with a number of organisations and alumni whom may be able to help.
- How to join – https://www.kentunion.co.uk/organisation/9648/
- Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/KentCanadianLawSociety/
- Linked In group – https://www.linkedin.com/groups/4986281
Join the Canadian Alumni and Law Students FB group – https://www.facebook.com/groups/KentCanadianAlumni/
We are currently working with the University’s Alumni Team, Canada Law from Abroad and another organisation to try to establish a more active and supportive alumni group.

Help from other bodies

Linked In – this platform is well used by Canadian lawyers and most of them do detail where they studied. Why not look for those whom you have a connection with and then make contact. Ask them a question or ask if you can buy them a coffee – you’d be surprised at how many will respond and/or meet up. Don’t ask for work experience – they may not be in a position to offer it and thus don’t reply. Better to find out about this once you have made a connection.
The Canadian Bar Association’s individual provincial/territorial groups may offer free student membership. Certainly the Ontario Bar Association does. This will give you access to a network of Canadian lawyers, networking events and seminars (often on-line), articles and other resources.
Canada Law From Abroad – They were looking into creating an alumni portal/network. Contact them for more information.
Global Lawyers of Canada – https://glcanada.org/ – This group is still quite young. It is based in Calgary but is establishing branches in Toronto and has plans for other cities also. They offer a range of mentoring, networking and training support. One student (and there may be more) has arranged work experience via them. Worth looking into.