Non-Canadian Law Degree – Admitted to a Foreign Bar

Step One – Lawyer applies to the National Committee on Accreditation (NCA) to have the lawyer’s law degree and credentials assessed. Commence this process before immigrating to Canada as it will take time.

In order to be admitted to the Nova Scotia Barristers' Society, the lawyer must have the equivalent of a Canadian law degree. The NCA will assess the lawyer's education and credentials, determine if the lawyer has to take any additional courses and/or pass any equivalency examinations in order to make the foreign law degree equivalent to a Canadian law degree.  

Note: Nova Scotia, as a province of Canada, is a Common Law jurisdiction. Therefore, the NCA criteria are generally greater for lawyers with a Civil Law Degree and who practise in a country with a Civil Code than they are for lawyers with a non-Canadian Common Law degree.

Step Two – NCA issues a Certificate of Qualification, once the lawyer has successfully completed the NCA criteria for the Canadian law degree equivalent. The NCA must send the Certificate of Qualification directly to the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society. The Certificate of Qualification cannot be provided to the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society by a third party.

Step Three – Once the NCA Certificate has been issued, lawyer submits an Application for Admission on Transfer to the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society. A number of other required documents include a Statement of Good Character; for full details about the specific requirements, please see the Application for Admission on Transfer.

The lawyer must be lawfully entitled to be employed in Canada in order to apply for Admission on Transfer. This means the lawyer has to be a Canadian citizen OR have Landed Immigrant Status OR provide evidence of a current work permit or other authorization issued by Canadian authorities.

In order to be considered, the Application for Admission on Transfer must be complete (all components of the application must be included and the fee paid).

Step Four - Application is considered by the Executive Director unless the application raises issues of character or fitness. Applications that raise character or fitness issues are considered by the Credentials Committee of the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society. The Executive Director or the Credentials Committee will issue a ruling on the Application.

The Regulations provide the Executive Director and the Credentials Committee with a number of options when considering Applications for Admission on Transfer from foreign lawyers. A lawyer from a foreign jurisdiction would at least have to pass the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society Bar Examination as a condition of admission. Whether other conditions would be imposed would depend on the lawyer's experience, practice plans and the particulars of the Application.

Step Five – Upon successful completion of the conditions set by the Executive Director or the Credentials Committee (as per Step Four), the lawyer is eligible for admission to the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society.

The Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society provides an admission information package to each applicant for admission.