Practicing Law in Canada
Canada is a federation where the Parliament of Canada holds constitutional authority over federal law and a legislature in each of the ten provinces and three territories deals with laws in their jurisdiction.1 Canada’s legal system is based on common law, with the exception of Quebec where civil law is administered. Provincial authority is granted to Canada’s ten provincial governments to regulate or control matters related to natural resources, property rights, education, social services, healthcare, housing, and family law under their jurisdiction.2 Separate bylaws can be passed by municipal or city governments and pertain to regulations not covered by the constitutional and provincial authorities. The court system of Canada forms the judiciary branch of the federal, provincial, and territorial governments, which, similar to the United States, operates independent of the executive and legislative branches of government.3 Under the Constitution Act, 1867, the Canadian federal government is given exclusive power over criminal and procedural law, but gives the provinces exclusive right over the administration of justice in each province. There are four levels of court in Canada: the Supreme Court, the Federal Court, the Federal Court of Appeal, and the provincial and territorial court of appeal.
For domestic students seeking to become lawyers in Canada, the process requires receiving a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) or Juris Doctor (J.D.) prior to being accepted into the bar in their respective province. According to the Council of Canadian Law Deans, there are 24 law schools across Canada, including seven in the Western Region, nine in Ontario, five in Quebec, and three in the Atlantic Region.4 The licensing requirements of Québec are distinct from the other provinces, and proficiency in French is also required.5
For foreign lawyers seeking to practice law in a Canadian province, a candidate must generally demonstrate the educational equivalency of the LL.B or J.D. degree, complete the licensing process, and be accepted into the provincial bar in which they plan to practice, according to Thomson Reuters.6 Educational equivalency is evaluated by the National Committee on Accreditation (NCA), which is a standing committee of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada.7 The Federation of Law Societies of Canada is the national body charged with coordinating the 14 law societies mandated by provincial and territorial law to regulate the over 130,000 lawyers in the country.8 This Federation is an umbrella organization for provincial and territorial law societies that operates as distinct from the Canadian Bar Association (CBA), which, similar to the American Bar Association (ABA), is a professional organization that provides educational and networking opportunities for lawyers.9 According to the CBA, in each province and territory, a lawyer must be a member of a Canadian Law Society in order to offer their services as an attorney to the public.
Openness of Canada’s Market
According to the OECD’s Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI), which measures certain countries’ trade restrictiveness by services sector on a scale of relative openness, Canada has a relatively open legal services market compared to its regional peers.10 Canada’s STRI score on legal services in 2020 was 0.17, on a zero to one scale (with zero representing an open market and one representing a market completely closed to foreign services providers).11 In 2019, the OECD described Canada’s legal sector as having a “transparent and competency-based system…to recognize equivalent foreign law degrees,” but lawyers seeking to practice domestic Canadian law need to take a provincial bar examination.12 In addition, the shares of domestic Canadian law firms must be entirely owned by locally licensed lawyers, and board members and managers of domestic law firms must be locally licensed lawyers. A majority of trade barriers in the Canadian legal sector are either restrictions on foreign entry or restrictions to movement of people.
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1 Department of Justice Canada, “Canada’s System of Justice,” 2015. Available: https://www.justice.gc.ca/eng/csj-sjc/just/img/courten.pdf.
2 Canada Guide, “The Canadian Legal System,” 2021. Available: https://thecanadaguide.com/basics/legal-system/.
3 Peter K. Doody, T.B. Smith, and Gerald L. Gall, “Court System of Canada,” The Canadian Encyclopedia, January 8, 2021. Available: https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/courts-of-law.
4 The Council of Candian Law Deans, “Canadian Law Schools.” Available: https://ccld-cdfdc.ca/law-schools/#:~:text=There%20are%2024%20law%20schools,three%20in%20the%20Atlantic%20Region.
5 Law School Admission Council, “Canadian Law Schools,” 2021. Available: https://www.lsac.org/choosing-law-school/find-law-school/canadian-law-schools.
6 Jacob Millar and Alyssa Hall, “Regulation of the Legal Profession in Canada: Overview,” Thomson Reuters Practical Law, June 1, 2021.
7 Federation of Law Societies of Canada, “About the NCA,” 2021. Available: https://flsc.ca/national-initiatives/about-the-nca/.
8 Federation of Law Societies of Canada, “Homepage,” 2021. Available: https://flsc.ca/.
9 The Canadian Bar Association, “FAQs,” 2022. Available: https://www.cba.org/For-The-Public/FAQs.
10 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, “OECD Services Trade Restrictiveness Index: Canada – 2020,” January 2021.
11 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, “Compare Your Country: Services Trade Restrictiveness Index.” Available: http://www.compareyourcountry.org/service-trade-restrictions. Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, “Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI): Legal and Accounting Services,” November 4, 2014. Available: https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/trade/services-trade-restrictiveness-index-stri-legal-and-accounting-services_5jxt4nkg9g24-en.
12 Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development,” OECD Services Trade Restrictiveness Index (STRI): Canada 2019,” December 2019.
