The person who actually runs the file. A 1 or 2 year diploma (3 years in Quebec), no licence, and lawyers who cannot function without you.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Counsellors: send it to a student from your own email in one click.
Programs in the fields this career usually comes through. Each has its own page: what it takes to get in, the courses you need and what it costs.
The median pay is about $69,000 a year. Across everyone in the job it runs from about $45,000 at the lower end to about $109,000 at the upper end. The source is listed under Sources at the end of this page.
1 to 2 years after high school, on the usual route.
$3,500 to $10,400 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
$69,000
Lower end
$45,000
Upper end
$109,000
Job Bank's figures for law clerks, who it counts with paralegals and related jobs, in Canada, 2023 to 2024, worked out as a year at 40 hours a week. The median is $33.05 an hour. About 1 in 10 earn less than the lower end and about 1 in 10 earn more than the upper end.
$82,000 in British Columbia
Job Bank median for the same group in British Columbia, 2023 to 2024, a year at 40 hours a week
The Ontario median is $69,000, Alberta's is $70,000 and Quebec's is $59,000.
$57,000 median
Job Bank median for legal administrative assistants in Canada, 2023 to 2024, a year at 40 hours a week
Legal assistant roles are more admin and less file work than law clerk roles, and Job Bank counts them as a separate group with lower pay.
Roughly, all in
$3,500 to $10,400
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is a one year legal assistant or law clerk certificate at a public college. The high end is a two year law clerk diploma plus an optional certification exam afterwards. There is no licence to buy and no exam you are required to pass. Some firms hire people with general office experience and train them, which costs nothing at all, but it is far easier to get hired with the paper in hand.
Among the cheapest routes into an office career in law. Some firms hire people with any office experience and train them.
Health and dental at most firms
Regular hours
Most clerks work 9 to 5, which most lawyers do not.
Paid overtime
Unlike the lawyers, clerks are usually hourly or eligible for overtime.
Pension in government and courts
Court staff and government legal assistants join public pension plans.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
A short college program, a placement, then learn the firm's systems. Quebec's program is longer, at 3 years, and tapping Quebec route adds it.
High school diploma
Grade 12
Any stream. English marks and typing speed matter.
College diploma
1 to 2 years
Law clerk (2 years) or legal administrative assistant (1 year). Litigation, real estate, corporate, family and wills procedures, plus legal software.
Placement
4 to 8 weeks
Most programs end with a few weeks in a law office. It is your first reference.
First job
1 to 2 years
Junior clerk or assistant. You learn one practice area and the firm's systems.
Optional certification
3 years or more
In Ontario, the Institute of Law Clerks of Ontario runs four voluntary exams. Pass all four and work 3 years as a clerk and you can join as an associate member. Some firms want it for senior roles.
English and writing
You will draft letters and court forms every day.
Keyboarding and business technology
Speed and accuracy with documents are what firms hire for.
Accounting
Trust accounts, closing adjustments, invoices.
Law
Useful background, not required.
Law clerk is not a regulated title in Canada. No exam is required and anyone can use the name. In Ontario it usually means a college-trained legal professional who prepares documents and manages files under a lawyer. In other provinces the same job is called a legal assistant or legal administrative assistant. Confusingly, law clerk is also the title of a lawyer who spends a year working for a judge after law school. That is a different job.
Quebec trains law clerks in a 3 year college program, the Paralegal Technology DEC (Diploma of College Studies), longer than the 1 to 2 year diplomas elsewhere. The French job title is technicien juridique (legal technician).
Finish Secondary V
Age 16 or 17
Secondary IV math (Cultural, Social and Technical) is the only course you need. Strong French helps, since most programs teach in French.
Paralegal Technology DEC (310.C0)
3 years
3 years at a CEGEP (public college) such as Collège Ahuntsic or Cégep Garneau, in French. Collège O'Sullivan, a private subsidized college in Montreal, also teaches it in English.
15 week internship
15 weeks
525 hours in your last term at a law firm, notary's office, court office or company legal department.
First job
After graduating
Legal technician at a firm, notary's office, court or government office. You cannot give legal opinions to clients or represent them in court.
Law school, optional
3 more years
The Université de Montréal has a bridge from this DEC (Diploma of College Studies) into its law degree that gives credit for some courses.
Public colleges still charge small fees each term. Private college fees are for 2026.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Corporate
Incorporations, minute books, government filings.
Real estate
Running closings from title search to registration.
Litigation
Court filings, discovery, trial preparation. Busy but valuable.
Estates
Probate applications and estate accounting. Growing as the population ages.
Fast, accurate typing
60 words a minute is a common expectation.
Software skills
Document management, closing platforms, electronic court filing, and in Ontario the electronic land registry.
French
Needed for almost every job in Quebec, and an asset in Ottawa and New Brunswick.
A part-time job at a law office while in school
Many Ontario colleges let law clerk graduates bridge into a licensed paralegal diploma with credit for courses already taken. A few clerks go on to university and law school later. The years inside a firm make that an informed decision.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Open the lawyer's email before they do. Draft a statement of claim from their notes, file it with the court online, diarize the deadline. Prepare closing documents for Friday, order a title search, chase a bank for a mortgage payout. Call a client to book a signing. Record your time. At a big firm you might do one of these all day; at a small one, all of them.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
The Institute of Law Clerks of Ontario has served law clerks since 1968. It sets four provincial exams that clerks take by choice, since no law requires them.
In many Ontario real estate firms the law clerk does nearly the whole closing: title search, documents, funds. The lawyer reviews, signs and takes responsibility.
Judges' law clerks are law graduates who work for a judge, researching and drafting. The Supreme Court of Canada hires up to 27 a year, 3 for each of its 9 judges, for a 1 year term at $85,440.
The clerk sitting below the judge in a courtroom is a court services employee who swears in witnesses and marks exhibits. Also no licence, also a government pension.
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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