National Committee on Accreditation

The National Committee on Accreditation (NCA) is a standing committee of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada. The mandate of the NCA is to help Canada's law societies protect the public interest by assessing the legal education and professional experience of individuals who obtained their credentials outside of Canada or in a Canadian civil law program. The assessment is done before these individuals apply for admission to a common law bar in Canada, and is based on the academic and professional profile of each individual applicant.

The NCA applies a uniform standard on a national basis so that applicants with common law qualifications obtained outside of Canada do not need to satisfy different entrance standards to practise law in the different provinces and territories of Canada.

Most law societies in Canada require the NCA's Certificate of Qualification to access their bar admissions process. Applicants with internationally-obtained legal qualifications can apply to the NCA regardless of which common law province or territory in which they plan to practise.

The NCA does not assess the legal credentials of individuals who want to apply to and become members of the Barreau du Québec or the Chambre notaires du Québec. They have their own evaluation procedures.

Information about the NCA assessment process, policies, and various resources are available here.