Education · 1 of 5
The path
Same licence as every lawyer. The side you article on tends to become the side you stay on. These steps are for outside Quebec, which has its own route: tap Quebec route to add it.
- 1
High school
Grades 11 and 12
English, business and law courses.
- 2
Bachelor's degree
3 to 4 years
Business, industrial relations, psychology and political science are common. Any subject works. Write the LSAT (law school admission test).
- 3
Law school (JD, juris doctor)
3 years
Take employment law, labour law, human rights and administrative law. Many schools have a workers' rights clinic.
- 4
Articling
About 1 year
8 to 10 months in the labour and employment group of a big firm, at a boutique on either side, or at a legal clinic, plus the barrister and solicitor licensing exams. Ontario's Law Practice Program is the alternative.
- 5
Called to the bar
Ceremony
Pick a side. Switching from employer to employee side later is possible, but firms on each side are wary of the other.