Advisories Updates to NCA Assessment and Appeal Policy
NCA Assessment and Appeal Policies are living documents that are continually reviewed and refreshed to ensure they are current and address relevant issues. Following a comprehensive review by the NCA, recommendations for changes were presented to the Council of the Federation of Law Society of Canada. The recommended changes were approved. The new policies come into effect on July 1, 2025. The complete revised NCA Policy Manual is available here.
New definitions and clarifications to policies
Section 1.3 of the NCA Assessment Policy provides definitions. “Additional Legal Studies”, “Local Learning Centre”, “Misconduct Finding”, “Professional Legal Experience”, “Qualifying Law Degree”, and “Relevant Jurisdiction” were updated to enhance clarity. “Approved Law Program” was removed due to the changes to the definition of “Qualifying Law Degree”. New definitions were added for “Publicly Available Information”, for clarity. Definitions for “Year” and “National Requirement 2029” were added. These latter two definitions were added to ensure future NCA applicants are aware of this important amended standard that will come into effect on January 1, 2029, with application to spring 2029 graduates of approved Canadian common law programs and to NCA applicants whose files are ready to be assessed on or after January 1, 2029. The January 1, 2018 National Requirement will remain in effect until that time.
Other policy amendments were made for clarity, including amendments to section 8, Legal Academic Performance, section 9, Currency of Legal Qualifications, subsections 12.6 and 13.5, as well as various other edits.
Changes to the NCA Appeal Policy seek to clarify policy wording, and to align the Appeal Panel processes with actual practice. The current Appeal policy provides for the possibility of oral Appeal hearings under limited circumstances. Going back over 20 years, there has never been an oral NCA appeal hearing, virtual or in-person. The Appeal Policy in effect July 1, 2025 will limit Appeal Panel hearings to be conducted in writing.