Run the courtroom's paperwork: swear in witnesses, track exhibits, keep the record. Hired with high school and trained on the job, except in Quebec, which wants 3 years of court office experience first.
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The median pay is about $62,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $50,000 at the lower end to about $77,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
Up to 2 years, on the usual route, and you are paid while you train from the first day.
$100 to $12,100 all in for tuition, fees, exams and kit. Living costs are not counted.
No. There is no licence to hold, though many employers still ask for training or a certificate.
Moderate demand nationally, from government outlook data. Demand varies by region, so check your area.
Or read the whole thing here
What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Median
$62,000
Lower end
$50,000
Upper end
$77,000
Job Bank's national median is $29.81 an hour, about $62,000 a year at 40 hours a week. The lower and upper ends are Job Bank's low and high wages for everyone in the group, $24 and $37 an hour. Nearly every court clerk works for a provincial government, so pay follows the public service grid and rises with years of service rather than negotiation.
$31.50 an hour
The median in New Brunswick and in Newfoundland and Labrador, the highest in Canada
Ontario follows at $30.56. Quebec's median is the lowest, at $25.76. Moving up means running the scheduling for a courthouse, supervising a team of clerks, or moving into court services management.
Roughly, all in
$100 to $12,100
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is a criminal record check and nothing else, because many clerks are hired with a high school diploma and trained in the courthouse on pay. The high end is a two year court support or justice administration diploma, which is optional but makes you a stronger applicant when postings are competitive. Where a province uses special constable status for court officers, that training is provided by the employer, so it costs you nothing.
Many clerks are hired with a high school diploma and learn the job in the courthouse. A diploma helps you get picked.
Public service pension
Defined benefit, indexed to inflation.
Health, dental, sick days
Union
OPSEU (Ontario Public Service Employees Union) in Ontario; provincial government unions elsewhere.
Regular daytime hours
Courts sit on weekdays. That is rare in the law-and-safety world.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
No licence, no degree required. Get hired, then learn the courtroom. Quebec's courtroom clerks first need 3 years of court office experience: tap Quebec route to add it.
High school diploma
Grade 12
The minimum. Strong English and attention to detail matter more than marks.
Optional diploma
1 to 2 years
A 1-year court support certificate or a 2-year justice administration diploma, for example Seneca Polytechnic's Justice Administration Services program, which includes a placement in a real court office.
Apply to the province
Weeks to months
Court clerks are hired by provincial court services (Ontario's Ministry of the Attorney General, for example). Postings ask for typing, customer service and a clean record check.
On-the-job training
3 to 6 months
Learn the recording system, exhibits, oaths, forms and each court's routine alongside experienced clerks.
English
You will write endorsements and read legal documents every day.
Law
Grade 11 or 12 law explains what you will see in the room.
Business or computer courses
Court files are electronic now.
French
Bilingual clerks are needed in federal and many provincial courts.
No licence or certification is needed anywhere in Canada. Court officers who provide security in some provinces are sworn as special constables, with training from the employer. Because clerks are government employees, moving provinces means applying fresh, but the skills carry over.
In Quebec the courtroom clerk is the greffier-audiencier (courtroom clerk), and the government asks for 3 years of court office experience before you can hold the job.
Finish Secondary V
Age 16 or 17
A Quebec high school diploma is the education minimum for a courtroom clerk in the provincial public service.
Optional: Legal Technology DEC (Diploma of College Studies)
3 years
Techniques juridiques (310.C0) is a 3 year CEGEP (public college) program. It teaches how court registries process files and lists court clerk among its careers.
Build experience in a courthouse
3 years
Support jobs in a court registry (greffe) count. An auxiliaire judiciaire (court assistant) prepares courtrooms and greets witnesses, at $42,425 to $44,069 a year as of 1 April 2026.
Become a greffier-audiencier
After 3 years
You need 3 years of related experience, such as handling court records, writs or files. Then you swear in witnesses, list exhibits and write the minutes of each hearing.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Trial coordinator
Schedules judges, courtrooms and cases. More responsibility, more pressure.
Registrar or deputy registrar
Signs court orders and manages the office.
Tribunal clerk
Landlord and tenant, human rights and labour tribunals run the same way.
Court interpreter or transcriptionist
Related paths that pay per assignment.
Fast, accurate typing
A second language
Customer service experience
Half the job is helping stressed people at a counter.
Calm under pressure
Judges expect the room to run without hiccups.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Before court opens: pull the day's files, check the recording system, set out exhibits. In session: call each case, swear in witnesses, mark exhibits, note every order the judge makes, and keep the digital record tagged. Between sessions: process filings at the counter, issue documents, answer questions from lawyers and the public. Criminal, family, civil and traffic courts each have their own rhythm.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
In most Canadian courtrooms it is the clerk, not the judge, who asks the witness to swear or affirm to tell the truth, and who marks every exhibit that enters the record.
A court clerk runs a courtroom for the government. A law clerk works inside a law firm drafting documents, and in Ontario usually has a college diploma and a professional association.
Ontario courts now file most documents electronically, and many hearings run by video. Clerks manage the online case files and the virtual courtroom as well as the physical one.
Every list is built from the same numbers shown above, so you can see where this career sits next to the others.
Courts and legal support first, then the rest of the field. See every career in law and public safety.
Last checked October 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students. How every figure on this site is sourced and checked.
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