If you are a law graduate seeking to establish yourself as a legal professional in Canada, getting an NCA accreditation is a must.
The NCA exam is an accreditation requisite required for all foreign law graduates. The NCA is the system by which foreign law graduates are considered, to be on par with Canadian law graduates.
Why so?
This compulsory equivalence test will prove you to be on par with Canadian law graduates and professionals. Every nation has its legal system concurrent with its formative constitutional policy. Similarly, Canada has a firm and majestic legal system based on its core policies. While you may be a graduate of law from a foreign country, it is necessary for you to be thoroughly vetted for a solid understanding of the Canadian core principles and legal systems before being allowed to practice law in the country.
The NCA exam is a faster way to obtain this equivalence certificate as it would cost you just a maximum of six to eight months of rigorous study. With the right NCA exam preparation, you will be good to go and ready to practice law in Canada in about a year. However, if you choose to get a Canadian graduate degree in law, it may take you another seven years to become an active professional.
What is NCA?
NCA stands for National Committee on Accreditation. This is a regulatory body of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada and is a standard that you must qualify for, to be granted permission to practice law in Canada.
The NCA exam is open to law graduates and legal professionals from across the globe irrespective of their nationality and education. The first step to signing up for this exam is to register with the NCA on their official website. Here you will be asked to upload your legal transcripts and your pre-law transcripts along with your mark sheet resume and other supporting documents.
You are also required to mail the hard copy of all these documents to the NCA directly from the University/degree-issuing institution where you graduated.
The NCA exam preparation process
The NCA board will then process these transcripts and documents to complete its assessment of your legal profile. This assessment takes about 1-2 months.
The NCA exam consists of the following five core assessments:
- Canadian Constitution Law
- Canadian Foundation
- Canadian Administrative law
- Criminal Law
- Professional Responsibility
These assessments are combined with electives and that the NCA board will allot to you based on your profile assessment in the initial phase. Once you complete your NCA exam, your scores on the test will be valid for five years from the date of issue.
The NCA exam is a highly esteemed certificate for any law professional. However, the number of candidates who pass this exam is rather low. According to NCA statistics, between the years 1999 to 2009, the percentage of candidates who successfully received their certificate of qualification was just 38% among the 4515 applicants.
To successfully pass this test, seek to admit yourself to one of the top-tier NCA preparation programs from reputed Canadian Colleges. This gives you a structured and easy way of covering the vast syllabus in record time.
