After the NCA: Licensing Exams, Articling and Bar Admission by Province

The NCA Certificate of Qualification (CQ) is not a licence to practise. It lets you apply to a law society's bar admission process, which has its own exams or training program, its own experiential training (articling or an alternative) and its own good character review. The NCA's FAQ is clear: unless you have been called to the bar elsewhere, you can't call yourself a lawyer in Canada until you finish that process and are called to the bar. This guide covers what comes next and how it differs by province.

Checked against the NCA's bar admissions, Certificate of Qualification and application pages, the NCA Policy Manual, the Law Society of Ontario's licensing pages, CPLED's PREP page, the Law Society of British Columbia's bar admission update, and the Federation of Law Societies' 2017 NCA Program Review on October 26, 2026.

Where the CQ takes you

The NCA's bar admissions page says the CQ lets you apply to bar admission programs in Canada's common law jurisdictions, which it describes as all provinces and territories except Quebec. Each law society runs its own process, and the NCA says it is your responsibility to research it and to direct questions to the law society.

The CQ doesn't expire. But the NCA says each law society has rules on how long you can wait between getting your CQ and entering its bar admission process. Check that before you take a long break.

Ontario: the Law Society of Ontario licensing process

According to the Law Society of Ontario (LSO), once you are registered as a licensing candidate you must:

1. pass the barrister and solicitor licensing exams
2. meet the good character requirement
3. complete experiential training (articling or the Law Practice Program)
4. pay the required fees and provide the required documents
5. become licensed

You can complete many of these in parallel. The LSO says the process takes 18 to 24 months on average.

When you can apply

You don't have to wait for your CQ. The LSO's application page says internationally trained lawyers who are completing their final NCA requirements can apply if they will be eligible to receive their CQ within six months of applying. You choose a licensing term: a three-year period starting on May 1, within which you must complete every requirement.

The barrister and solicitor exams

The LSO describes both exams as self-study, multiple-choice and open-book. The LSO provides the official study materials. You may print and mark them up and bring the printed copies in, but you can't use digital materials in the testing area. Some other points from the LSO:

• You can write the exams before you have articles, and you can write one exam at a time.
• Attempts are limited. You can write each exam up to three times in your licensing term, and some candidates may get a fourth with special approval.
• There's a strict AI rule. You must not put any part of the study materials into AI tools, for any purpose, including summarizing or making notes. The materials are copyrighted.
• Appeals must be requested within 10 business days of the later of your result's release or the exam profile appearing in your LSO Connects account.

Articling or the Law Practice Program

Experiential training can be completed in either of two ways:

• Articling: a placement of at least eight and no more than 10 months, supervised by an LSO-approved principal or a judge. It can be full-time or part-time, and you are responsible for finding the placement.
• Law Practice Program (LPP): a four-month training course followed by a four-month work placement, usually running from late August to the end of April. Toronto Metropolitan University runs it in English, and the University of Ottawa runs it in French.

Placements are paid. The LSO's Mandatory Minimum Compensation Policy requires at least $620 per week during the placement. The LSO also says candidates with at least 10 months of common law practice experience may qualify for an exemption, and others may qualify for a shorter articling term under its policies.

Good character

The Law Society Act requires applicants to be of good character throughout the licensing term. You answer a Good Character Questionnaire in your application. Answering "yes" doesn't mean you'll be refused, but failing to disclose something can be treated as a misleading declaration.

Alberta, BC, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Nunavut: CPLED's PREP

Six law societies use the Practice Readiness Education Program (PREP) run by the Canadian Centre for Professional Legal Education (CPLED). CPLED lists Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Nunavut and British Columbia.

PREP is competency-based and has four phases:

1. Foundation modules: 12 self-study online modules, including ethics, legal research, Indigenous law, writing, drafting, negotiation and oral advocacy.
2. Foundation workshops: five skills workshops.
3. Virtual Law Firm: simulated client files, assessed by lawyers.
4. Capstone evaluation: a final assessment of oral skills, written skills, and ethics and practice management. You must reach entry-level competence in each.

CPLED says each law society sets its own admission requirements, including articling or clerkship. Confirm your law society's rules before registering.

British Columbia's switch from PLTC to PREP

British Columbia has replaced its Professional Legal Training Course (PLTC) with PREP. The Law Society of BC says the May 19 to July 24, 2026 session was the last PLTC, and the first PREP session for BC candidates was in September 2026. Candidates still need to complete articling. According to the Law Society of BC, if you hold an NCA CQ you can register for PREP without first securing articles in BC. Candidates with failed or deferred PLTC assessments can complete them through a PLTC Completion Program.

Other provinces and territories

The NCA's bar admissions page also links to the law societies of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon and the Northwest Territories. Each sets its own requirements for internationally trained applicants. We haven't summarized them here. Go to the law society directly, starting from the NCA's list.

Quebec is a separate system

Quebec uses the civil law, and the NCA route doesn't lead there. The NCA's application page says it does not assess people who want to practise civil law in Canada or become members of the Barreau du Québec or the Chambre des notaires du Québec, and that each of those bodies has its own evaluation process. The NCA Policy Manual says the NCA policy doesn't apply to anyone seeking to practise law, common law or civil law, in Quebec.

What the data says about licensing exams

The most cited figure comes from the Federation of Law Societies' NCA Program Review Report (May 2017). In section 4.2, "Success rates, gaps and lack of evidence," it reproduces Law Society data (the LSO was then called the Law Society of Upper Canada) on first-attempt failure rates on Ontario's licensing exams between March 2014 and March 2016:

Read this carefully:

• It's 10 years old. It covers March 2014 to March 2016. Both the NCA and licensing processes may have changed since, and we found no newer equivalent figure in the official sources we checked.
• The authors were cautious. The report says it could not draw further conclusions from the gap. It notes that bar admission data was patchy, didn't show which areas candidates were failing, and may have been skewed by Ontario allowing candidates to write the licensing exams before securing articles.
• It doesn't explain why. The report also says it found no evidence of the reasons NCA graduates have difficulty finding articling positions, and that those difficulties may not reflect deficiencies in skills or knowledge.

The takeaway: licensing exams need dedicated preparation, even after you finish the NCA.

Planning the overlap

• Ontario: apply once you're within six months of being eligible for your CQ, and start looking for articles early. You can write the licensing exams before securing a placement.
• PREP provinces: check how your law society sequences PREP and articling, and how long you have after receiving your CQ to start.
• Everywhere: keep your CQ request timing in mind. The NCA can take up to 10 business days to notify a law society after issuing your CQ. See the NCA process timeline.

Sources

• NCA: Bar admissions
• NCA: Certificate of Qualification
• NCA: Application
• NCA: FAQs
• NCA: Policy Manual, in effect March 1, 2026 (PDF)
• Law Society of Ontario: Lawyer licensing process
• Law Society of Ontario: Apply to be an Ontario lawyer
• Law Society of Ontario: Licensing exams
• Law Society of Ontario: Articling
• Law Society of Ontario: Law Practice Program
• Law Society of Ontario: Experiential training
• Law Society of Ontario: Good character requirement
• CPLED: Practice Readiness Education Program (PREP)
• Law Society of British Columbia: Upcoming changes to bar admission program
• Federation of Law Societies of Canada: NCA Program Review Report, May 2017 (PDF)

Lexn is an independent study platform and is not affiliated with the NCA, the Federation of Law Societies of Canada, any law society or CPLED. This article is general information only. Confirm your requirements with the law society where you plan to practise.

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