Hi,
I am looking to migrate to Canada. I am Bcom., LLB., holder from India with a overall Corporate in-house legal expereience of over 13 years. Out of this over 6 years I have worked in a law firm and practiced law in high court. The remaining as in house legal manager with the good companies in manufacturing and power sector companies and presently working in one of the EPC companies in Qatar. THis is breifly my profile and I have some questions regarding jobs in Canada:

I would like to work as corporate in-house legal professional in any companies accross Canada for which am I directly eligible to apply to jobs with my present qualification and expreience or would I suppose to do any additional courses (as per recommendations of NAC, Canada) to equal my INdian LLB with Canadian LLB. I beleive this requirement is for those who wants to practice law in Canada. But I don't want to practice law, however my aim is to work as corporate inhouse legal professional. I have extensive experience in Contracts (project as well as commercial contracts) drafting, review & management mostly in Energy & Manufacturing sectors. Can anybody suggest me about the system that existing in Canada?

Any help in this regard is highly appreciated.

Thanks,
Legalindia

Hi, all. No, answer to my post. Very curious to know other's views.( One clarification on my experience mentioned in the above post. I got my entire experience (mentioned as above) in India only).

OK, I will make my question more simple and direct:

"Is the stipulation of accredition by NAC, Canada of foreign LLB degrees to equate them to Canadian LLB, for only those who wants to practice law in Canada., (ie., who wants to enroll them into bar and work in law firms) or it is also applies to those who wants to work in legal departments of canadian companies/corporations."

Also another question, "why at all cannadian companies/ corporations would prefer asian candidates (ie, people like me...) for their job opennings? Instead they may prefer candidates from US, UK, European and other North Americans. Unless the candidates like me have some speciality (ie., some special qualification/experience) which the other candidates do not have, there is absolutely no reason why they prefer! So, if it is right, then what is that 'special qualification / experience' I should have to get attracted by the employers in Canada? Any suggestions, please.

I suppose, for this type of questions, the people who are presently working in Canada in legal field or those who had some knowledge about the Cannadian legal working environment, can answer.

SO, I welcome all those genious groups to clarify my doubts. Shall thank all for thier time in advance.

Thanks.

Not entirely sure, but you will probably need to be admitted to the bar to work as a lawyer in-house (unless you are working as a registered foreign legal advisor or as a paralegal or something). I know pretty much all bar societies/courts in the United States require you to maintain membership in good standing even if you are just working in-house and never actually go to court and I assume (but am not certain) that it is the same in Canada.

As for finding a job... Not sure what advice I can give. You might have better luck if you do an LLM or something at a Canadian law school so that you can develop some contacts, demonstrate to employers that you are truly interested in working in Canada, and make use of the law school's career services.

Hi, NYC_Charles, Thank you very much for your response. So, even if one wants to work in legal departments of the companies in Canada, they necessarily have to go through NAC process which I heard very tedious exercise and will at least take minimum 1.5 to 2 years depending on the subjects recommended by NAC. I am affried at this juncture of my career I cannot afford to sit idle (without any job) in canada just to attend the classes and challenge exams. Is it advisable to take that much risk at this stage of my career? May be the situation would be different, if I would be allowed to comply with NAC recommendations while working in Canada.

By the by, you have used the phrase 'registered foreign legal advisor' in your response, what is it exactly? Is there any such facility available in Canada for foreign lawyers to first register them as 'registered foreign lawyer' and start working and then slowly complete the challenge exams of NAC? Can you briefly elaborate the same to my understanding?

Well, your advise of going for LLM looks pretty good. But then too, to be eligible to get work permit after LLM in Canada, I should study in any canadian university as full time student. So, here again the problem is that I have only to study (without any job) and spend some of my savings for this purpose. One advantage I see in this is that if I can get one year work permit after my LLM, it will give me the opportunity to apply & get the PR and then slowly settle down in Canada. Am I right ? PLease advise.

Thanks again.

Well, I can't advise what is best for you, as I am not sure I can even figure out what is best for me. Everyone's circumstances are different, so what works well for one person might not for another. I will try to provide answers to some of your more concrete questions, though.

On the foreign law practice front, you can practice the law of your home jurisdiction without having to qualify with one of the bar societies so long as you register. The process looks like it is still a little bureaucratic, but at least you don't have to go through the NCA process. Of course, you'll still have to find a job somewhere. The process for registering is different in each province, but the rules for Ontario are here: http://rc.lsuc.on.ca/jsp/membershipServices/foreignLegalConsultants.jsp

Also, I believe you are correct that Canadian student visas are automatically renewable as work visas for a one year period after you graduate. I haven't figured out all of the details yet myself, as I haven't gotten my visa yet and my decision to study in Canada was not dependent on my being able to stay there, but I am pretty sure that is correct.

Hey, NYC-Charles, so you are in the process of arranging your student visa. I have read in some other post that you have been admitted to McGill for LLM program. Congrats for that.

As I understood from your response, the opiton of going for registered foreign legal consultant is looking not suitable for me. So, that option is closed now. I think there are only two options lift open for me and also most suitable to my present position. One would be first to try for a job in canada and if somehow I could manage to get a job, then I can move over there. While working I can complete NAC's recommendations slowly over a period of 2 years ro so.

Or else, secondly, I can take up LLM program of any top canadian university (one year full time), finish it, get a work visa and then start working and settle there.

What would you advise on this? which will be better option for me?

The idea of moving to canada has struck to my mind, when I was just started looking for some international work experience, as in India having an international work experience will be taken as a value addition to ones' career. As I started looking for various options, I was told that Canada is a good place to work and settle down. That's how I got interested in Canada. In case if it looks difficult for me to get a job in canada on the basis of present qualifications & experience, I will consider the possibility of going for LLM as said above, may be for the next academic sesseion. I am thinking of U of T or Osgoode LLM programs which I will decide in the due course.
What would be your opinion on the options I have detailed above? Which university in canada has good job prospects for foreign legal professionals. Do you have any idea?

Thanks for your views.

These days NCA is limiting exams to be given by experienced Indian applicants to 5. I have friends there who did their llm for UoT & OG and started to work at known firms, however, at some point in time they wanted to give the qualification exams (NCA) not for work requirements but to be at par with other lawyers. LLM is not necessary for NCA exams. NCA exams are conducted in Canada, however, people prepare in their home countries and then proceed to give the exams. Last term I heard exam session was held in Delhi as well. You may enquire and update this page for future use of others. If you want to follow the LLM route you may want to go to highest rated law schools of the world which would be recognized in any country. Moving to different jurisdiction is a long process for lawyers in most countries so patience is the key.

Oh, Tushal, GREAT, your response is very useful for me.

"These days NCA is limiting exams to be given by experienced Indian applicants to 5."

"NCA exams are conducted in Canada, however, people prepare in their home countries and then proceed to give the exams. Last term I heard exam session was held in Delhi as well."

This is really very useful information and I will found out about the exams in Delhi without any delay and will post the same here so that our other friends also can make use of it. If I can ask anything more from you, Can you just get some information from your friends in canada about how to find out in-house legal jobs there and how to establish contacts there? Sorry for taking more liberty by ask this, but as I don't have any sources to find out this and I need sombody's guidance in this regards.

Thanks again for your information.
LegalIndia.

Hi Tushal,

As I already said in my previous posts, if I can manage to get a job in canada, then first I will move to canada, start working and then give NCA exams. If it is possible I would prefer this route than the "LLM" route. Avoiding NCA exams was never my intention but I cannot afford to leave my present job to move to canada and then give NCA exams for the next 2 of 3 years and then again another six months or one years for bar exams and then only I can find our a job..... etc....etc... means its very tedious exercise and at this juncture of my career I cannot prefer. So, I wanted to know whether the two options discussed by me earlier are possible or not.

SO, your response is like a cool breaze to me.
LegalIndia

Searching online for recruiters, extracting a list of HRs of law firms and Cos. from their sites is one option. That should give good view of the road ahead, qualification preferred, economy etc. 5 exams (NCA) are held back to back or sometimes morning evening sessions. So roughly around 5 days. I suggest 20 day leave from current work to appear for exams there. You can take family as well and experience the country holidaying for remaining. Results would be out in 3 months and i suppose one MAY be better equipped for jobs.

Hi, Tushal, How are you? Thanks for your response.
Yes, I am already doing that. I have gone through some of the jobsites in canada and gathered some information. Actually there is no hard rule that in order to work as in-house legal one should be member of bar of any province in canada. Some job profiles only requiring the candidate to be member in good standing and some others are not at all stipulating it as requirement. So, I understand it is not a precondition to work in canada, however as you said, everybody should have to take NCA exams sometime to equate them with Canadian Lawyers.

I also cheked out that in last january session, NCA had conducted its exams at New Delhi as a pilot program and I heard this august (for which May is the registration deadline) also they are going to conduct in New Delhi. Anyhow, there is no problem, as you said I can take up the exams by going there as a holiday trip. Nice idea.

Also I am trying to get relevant information from other sources as well.

LegalIndia

Wow that is super news. Congratulations legalindia and all the best. My personal email id is tushal@hotmail.com, let us stay in touch !

Sure Tushal, I will send a mail from my id soon and we will be in touch. Having come to this extent, now another question lurking in my mind is that whether to apply for Canadian PR first or apply to NCA for evaluation & recommendation and then only apply for PR! Or else both can be applied simultaneously. Is there any precondition to have get our degree evaluated by NCA before we apply for PR?

Any idea on this?
LegalIndia

Hello everyone,

Am looking for a general advice. i am a law graduate from Northumbria University (Newcastle Uk),I am from Mauritius & i studied by distance learning. I reckon about 6 years working experience in the legal field as legal assistant. I wish to move to Canada now. What are the jobs prospects according to you? Is it worthwhile?

deep15, certainly distance learning law degree is not going to help you to enter legal field in canada. I suppose, you need to undergo LLB in Canada and then go for bar exams. I am not sure, but you can try to get some job as legal assistant depending on your present work experiene and then take up LLB. JUst check this with others also.

ok. Is it difficult to get a job in the legal field in Canada? When you mean i have to take the LLB, will i be granted exemptions??

I am not sure whether you will be given any exemptions. You need to apply to National Committee on Accredition (NCA) of Canada for their evaluation of your LLB. Then NCA will evaluate your LLB degree and give its recommendations as to whether you need to take full 3 years LLB in canada or only some subjects of LLB. Depending on their recommendations you need to complete the courses to equate your LLB with canadian LLB. So, its all may take 2 or 3 or even more time for you, however you can take up on/off compus works during your studies if you join any university for your studies or else you can first try to get some job and then can continue your studies there. Its all depends on your planning. As to the job market in canada, I am not sure, but you can try your luuck.

Thank you very much for NYC_Charles and Tushal for their respective veiws on this post.

Can anybodyelse suggest me on the position of legal jobs in Canada?
Having seen my brief profile and my intentions of moving to canada in the above posts, anybodyelse can advise me further on this.
I have tried some immigration consultants but all are seemed to be very costly and the process itself seems to be very long & time taking.

Shall thank in advance for any veiws!
LegalIndia

thanks a lot for the precious information dear legalindia. I am in the same situation as well.. i have contacted several travel agency & consultants but am being informed that it will take from 9 months to 3 years to immigrate to canada.

Hi everyone,

I wanted to know what is my position in terms of employment. i mean given that i am not a canadian national, is it more difficult to get jobs there? do you have any websites where i may apply for canadian jobs? i have gone through some online jobs but am wondering whether it is restricted only to canadian nationals.