Assignments

If the NCA assessment requires you to study at a Canadian law school, the number of subjects assigned will depend on your legal education and professional experience. There is a good chance you will have to study at a Canadian law school if you are a law graduate from a non-common law jurisdiction and you have had little or no experience with common law. This is also true if you have completed your law degree by distance education or online learning. If you must attend a Canadian law school – or if you are considering attending Canadian law school rather than taking NCA exams to meet your assigned requirements – you need to keep these things in mind:

Choose the right law school
You must research Canadian law schools on your own and choose the one you wish to attend to meet your NCA requirements. Some schools reserve spaces for NCA applicants, but others do not. As you choose your law school, please see the Federation’s approved Canadian common law degree programs or our Assistance for NCA Students page.

Apply to law school
You must apply to law school on your own. If you have questions about the cost of studies and admission requirements, you need to contact the law school directly.

Get your courses approved
If you want to take courses at a Canadian law school, you MUST have the NCA approve your courses before you take them to make sure they meet our requirements.  To get approval in advance, send us an email with your proposed plan of study: [email protected].

Make sure we get your transcripts
You must arrange for your law school to send official transcripts to the NCA so the information can be included in your file.

Additional training

If you earned your education and experience in a mixed jurisdiction that includes common law, we will consider the common law content of your programs and experience. We ask most graduates from a mixed jurisdiction to show they are competent in all eight core subjects. This document explains how the NCA designates the legal tradition of a jurisdiction and provides a list of common law and mixed law jurisdictions.

• Canadian Administrative Law (mandatory)
• Canadian Constitutional Law (mandatory)
• Canadian Criminal Law (mandatory)
• Foundations of Canadian Law (mandatory)
• Canadian Professional Responsibility (mandatory)
• NCA legal research and writing module with the Canadian Centre for Professional Legal Education (CPLED) (mandatory)
• Contracts
• Torts
• Property

Legal Research and Writing Requirement

If your qualifications are assessed after January 1, 2022, you will also need to complete a course in legal research and writing offered either by an approved Canadian common law program or though the NCA legal research and writing module with the Canadian Centre for Professional Legal Education (CPLED).

Additional training

If you are from a country with a legal tradition other than common law (e.g. civil law, religious law, etc.), you must obtain common law training or education. You can gain the required common law exposure by:

1. taking an LL.M. program or by enrolling in individual courses
2. being licensed as a lawyer, barrister or solicitor in a common law jurisdiction through successful completion of substantive course work or exams
3. being certified as a paralegal or notary in a common law jurisdiction

In each case, the Executive Director has sole discretion to determine if some of the courses completed can satisfy requirements to proceed in the NCA assessment process

If you are enrolling in individual courses, once you successfully complete at least four common law subjects, the NCA will reconsider your file, as per NCA policy 15 (Assessment Reconsideration). We will then let you know which courses you still need to take to earn the NCA Certificate of Qualification.

Once you have the required exposure to common law, you can choose to satisfy the remaining subject requirements by writing NCA exams rather than taking law school courses, if you wish. Here is the NCA’s list of required subjects:

1. Canadian Administrative Law (mandatory)
2. Canadian Constitutional Law (mandatory)
3. Canadian Criminal Law (mandatory)
4. Foundations of Canadian Law (mandatory)
5. Canadian Professional Responsibility (mandatory)
6. NCA legal research and writing module with the Canadian Centre for Professional Legal Education (CPLED) (mandatory)
7. Contracts
8. Torts
9. Property

Pre-approval for Law School Courses

Before you register for your courses, please have them approved by the NCA. For help, please see our Assistance for NCA students page. If you attend a Canadian law school, we will not require you to take a language test (each law school has their own language testing requirements). If you have any questions about the options available to you, please email us.

Legal Research and Writing Requirement

If your qualifications are assessed after January 1, 2022, you will also need to complete a course in legal research and writing offered either by an approved Canadian common law program or though the NCA legal research and writing module with the Canadian Centre for Professional Legal Education (CPLED).

You can take other common law subjects – such as Family Law, Commercial Law or Remedies – to get exposure to common law concepts. However, you will need to show competency in the above eight subjects before we issue you with a Certificate of Qualification. You must complete the five mandatory Canadian subjects through an approved Canadian common law program or by NCA exam (only after you have successfully completed at least four law school courses).

Additional training

If you hold a Canadian civil law degree – LL.B., LL.L., Diplôme d’études supérieures spécialisées en Common Law nord-américaine (DESS) program of the Université de Montréal or the Diplôme de deuxième cycle de common law et droit transnational (DDCCLDT) program of the Université de Sherbrooke – the NCA will give you full credit for the courses you completed in federal law. We will usually ask you to show competence in the following subjects:

• Contracts
• Torts
• Property
• Canadian Professional Responsibility (if you did not successfully complete it during your Canadian civil law education)

If you have a Qualifying Law Degree from a program at a Canadian civil law school and hold a licence from the Barreau du Quebec, the NCA will automatically issue a Certificate of Qualification upon review of your completed application.

Apply to the NCA and submit all required documentation. 

If you earned your law degree through distance or online education, please see section 7. (Mode of Study) of the NCA’s Policies. This policy outlines the NCA’s In-person Instruction requirements.

In-person study or interactive online instruction completed as part of a distance education program

If you took your law degree through distance education or a program that does not meet the interactive learning requirement,  you must successfully complete two (2) years of In-person instruction in a law Program acceptable to the NCA, in addition to any other requirements identified by the Executive Director. The two-year requirement will be reduced to one (1) year In-person if you hold a law degree from a program that provides two (2) years of Interactive Online Instruction. Interactive online instruction must be part of a program that consists of at least one year of in person instruction and must provide opportunities for students to develop legal problem solving and legal communications skills and include six of the eight criteria listed in NCA’s Policy at section 7.2, Interactive Learning Requirement. As part of your study, you must complete the following NCA mandatory Canadian subjects represented in bold with an asterisk. The subjects not represented in bold with an asterisk may be assigned:

• Canadian Administrative Law*
• Canadian Constitutional Law*
• Canadian Criminal Law*
• Foundations of Canadian Law*
• Canadian Professional Responsibility*
• NCA legal research and writing module with the Canadian Centre for Professional Legal Education (CPLED)*
• Contracts
• Torts
• Property
• Business Organizations
• Family Law
• Remedies
• Evidence
• Civil Procedure
• Commercial Law
• Real Estate

NOTE: If you received instruction at a local learning centre, whether in-person or interactive, it will not be considered as meeting the interactive learning requirement and will not reduce the two-year in-person requirement in section 7.3.

Your options to meet the assignments

You could consider any one of the following three options to complete your two years of in-person instruction:

1. Either one year of a course-based LL.M., plus a Legal Practice Course (LPC) or a Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) in England, Wales or Northern Ireland.
2. Two one-year course-based LL.M. programs. If you choose this option, you could complete a course-based LL.M. at any approved law school in any common law jurisdiction.
3. One two-year course-based LL.M. program.

To meet a one-year In-Person requirement, you could choose any of the following options:

• One year of a course-based LL.M., at any approved law school in any common law jurisdiction.
• The Legal Practise Course (LPC) or Graduate Diploma in Law (GDL) either in England or another common law jurisdiction.
• Courses in a common law J.D. or LL.B.

Additional Legal Studies completed as part of a one (1) year Program (e.g. LL.M) must consist of no less than fifty percent (50%) In-person Instruction with the remainder delivered through Interactive Online Instruction that meets the criteria outlined under paragraph 7.2(II).

Please note that, in all cases, you must take the five mandatory Canadian subjects listed below at an approved Canadian law school. If you have already completed the two-year in-person or online interactive requirement in another country, you may write the corresponding NCA examinations.

• Canadian Administrative Law
• Canadian Constitutional Law
• Canadian Criminal Law
• Foundations of Canadian Law
• Canadian Professional Responsibility

Legal Research and Writing Requirement

If your qualifications are assessed after January 1, 2022, you will also need to complete a course in legal research and writing offered either by an approved Canadian common law program or though the NCA legal research and writing module with the Canadian Centre for Professional Legal Education (CPLED).

Get your courses approved

If you want to take courses at a Canadian law school, you MUST have the NCA approve your courses before you take them to make sure they meet our requirements. To get approval in advance, send an email with your proposed plan of study to [email protected].