Gaining Canadian accreditation

The National Committee on Accreditation (NCA) assesses the legal qualifications obtained outside of Canada for individuals who wish to be admitted to a common law bar in Canada. Each file (application) is assessed on an individual basis, taking into account the particular circumstances of that individual's educational and professional background.

After reviewing an application, the NCA will issue an assessment report to the applicant, listing the subjects and/or legal education required to ensure that the applicant's legal education and training is comparable to that provided by an approved law school in Canada.

Most Law Societies in Canada accept the NCA's Certificate of Qualification for entry to their bar admissions process. Additional requirements for the Canadian Bar are determined by the National Committee on Accreditation for all provinces except Quebec.

Obtaining the NCA Certificate of Qualification

In order to obtain an NCA Certificate of Qualification, most applicants are required to demonstrate competence in a number of subjects. Applicants may demonstrate competence in one of three ways.

1. You can apply to a law school in Canada to complete the remaining courses. If you chose to do this, you must seek NCA approval for the courses you wish to take.
2. You can do self-study—the NCA provides a syllabus for you to study at home. Tests occur every month and are online double proctored tests with a pass or fail result. Consult the NCA website for details of the test schedules. Please note not all tests are offered every month.
3. A combination of options 1 and 2.

The number of subjects that you will be required to take will depend on a number of factors, including:

• your results in each module of your Leicester Law degree
• the degree programme that you have taken (i.e. the two-year or the three-year programme)
• whether you entered the University of Leicester directly from high school or not.

Every law graduate who has studied outside of Canada must complete the six subjects of Canadian content:

• Foundations of Canadian Law
• Canadian Criminal Law
• Canadian Constitutional Law
• Canadian Administrative Law
• Canadian Professional Responsibility
• Canadian Legal Research and Writing

Please note the other core subjects required by the NCA are:

• Tort Law
• Contract Law
• Property Law

These subjects are deemed to be so similar between England and Canada that once you have passed them in the UK with at least 45% you do not need to repeat them in Canada.

Revised national requirement

Please check the NCA advisory page regularly for updates.

Files are assessed under the policy that is in place at the time the file is assessed. Therefore, if the policy changes in the future, the new policy will apply.

Please note that the information on this page is accurate as of April 2024. The University of Leicester cannot be held responsible for any changes made to the NCA’s policy on awarding the Certificate of Qualification.

NCA exams

JD Pathway and Two-year Graduate LLB

If you achieve a 2:2 or higher (a 50% average, which is equivalent to a 60% average in Canada) with no marks below 45%, you'll likely need to take seven exams (five mandatory exams and two additional exams assigned by the NCA) and the module ‘Canadian Legal Research and Writing’.

Three-year LLB

With at least two years of university prior to law school

If you achieve a 2:2 or higher (a 50% average, which is equivalent to a 60% average in Canada) with no marks below 45%, you'll likely need to take the five mandatory exams and the module ‘Canadian Legal Research and Writing’.

With less than two years of university prior to law school

If you achieve a 2:2 or higher (a 50% average, which is equivalent to a 60% average in Canada) with no marks below 45%, you'll likely need to take seven exams (five mandatory exams and two additional exams assigned by the NCA) and the module ‘Canadian Legal Research and Writing’.

Three-year joint honours LLB

With at least two years of university prior to law school

If you achieve a 2:2 or higher (a 50% average, which is equivalent to a 60% average in Canada) with no marks below 45%, you'll likely need to take seven exams (five mandatory exams and two additional exams assigned by the NCA) and the module ‘Canadian Legal Research and Writing’.

With less than two years of university prior to Law School

If you achieve a 2:2 or higher (a 50% average, which is equivalent to a 60% average in Canada) with no marks below 46%, you'll likely need to take eight or nine exams (five mandatory exams and three or four additional exams assigned by the NCA) and the module ‘Canadian Legal Research and Writing’.

LLB degree classification of less than 2:2

If a student completes a qualifying law degree with less than a degree classification of a 2:2 (a 50% average), the student has not met the NCA’s minimum standards and will need an additional qualification for accreditation. Students are advised to contact the NCA for further details.