Canadian legal education splits into two systems — common law (used everywhere except Quebec) and civil law (used in Quebec) — and most common-law schools have quietly renamed their degree from LLB to JD over the past two decades. If you're comparing Canada to the US or UK, or you're a foreign-trained lawyer trying to requalify, the terminology and the accreditation process both look different from what you might expect.
The JD Is Now the Standard Common-Law Degree
Common-law degrees in Canada were historically called the LLB (Bachelor of Laws), but nearly every common-law faculty has since redesignated its degree as the JD (Juris Doctor) — the University of Toronto led the change in 2001, and McGill University, the last holdout, made the switch for its common-law degree starting with spring 2020 graduates. As of 2026, the JD is effectively the universal designation for a common-law degree in Canada, though some older graduates still hold the LLB and can apply to have their degree redesignated by their alma mater.
Despite the JD name, Canadian legal education is structurally closer to the UK than the US in one key respect: most Canadian common-law JD programs admit students directly from undergraduate study or after a minimum of two years of prior university study — you don't strictly need a completed bachelor's degree at every school the way you do for a US JD, though in practice the overwhelming majority of admitted students already hold one. Confirm each school's specific prior-study requirement, as it varies.
Quebec is different. Quebec's civil-law schools (Université de Montréal, Université Laval, Université de Sherbrooke, and others) award a civil-law LLB or LLL as their base undergraduate law degree, reflecting Quebec's distinct civil-law tradition. McGill University uniquely offers an integrated BCL/JD program covering both civil law and common law simultaneously.
Admissions: LSAT Still the Standard, GRE Rarely Accepted
Unlike the US, where dozens of ABA-accredited schools (including every T14 school) now accept the GRE as an LSAT alternative, Canadian common-law schools have not broadly followed suit — the LSAT remains the required admissions test at the large majority of English-language Canadian law schools, including the University of Toronto, which explicitly does not accept the GRE or GMAT as substitutes. If you're weighing LSAT vs. GRE for a Canada-focused application, default to assuming LSAT is required and confirm directly with each target school before ruling it out — see our LSAT vs. GRE comparison for the general test differences.
Quebec's civil-law programs are the notable exception: they generally do not require the LSAT for admission, since they evaluate applicants primarily on academic record (CEGEP/undergraduate grades). McGill's combined BCL/JD program will consider an LSAT score if submitted but does not require one.
| Component | Common-law JD (most provinces) | Quebec civil-law LLB/LLL |
|---|---|---|
| LSAT | Typically required | Typically not required |
| GRE accepted? | Rarely (confirm per school) | N/A |
| Prior degree required? | Varies by school — many admit after 2+ years of university | Typically CEGEP + limited university prerequisites |
| Personal statement | Yes | Yes |
The NCA Path for Foreign-Trained Lawyers
If you earned your law degree outside Canada (or through certain Canadian civil-law programs) and want to practice in a Canadian common-law province, you don't retake a full JD — you go through the National Committee on Accreditation (NCA), a standing committee of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada. As of 2026, the body is still named the NCA; despite periodic speculation about renaming, no formal name change has taken effect, so treat "NCA" as the current and correct term (confirm at flsc.ca/nca.legal if you're reading this later, since accreditation-body names do occasionally change).
The process:
- Credential assessment. The NCA evaluates your foreign legal education and professional experience and assigns you a specific set of requirements — typically a subset of exams, sometimes additional coursework.
- Core exams. Internationally trained common-law lawyers are commonly assigned five mandatory subjects: Canadian Administrative Law, Canadian Constitutional Law, Canadian Criminal Law, Canadian Professional Responsibility, and Foundations of Canadian Law. Civil-law or non-common-law applicants are often assigned more.
- Certificate of Qualification. Once you pass your assigned requirements, the NCA issues a Certificate of Qualification, which then lets you apply to a provincial law society's bar admission/licensing program (articling or an equivalent practical-training program, plus that province's bar exam).
Important 2026 changes — confirm current details at nca.legal before applying:
- New mandatory language screening, effective March 1, 2026. All NCA applicants must now demonstrate English (or French) proficiency as part of credential assessment — this is a change from the previous policy, which exempted applicants whose law degree was taught in English or French. For English, the NCA accepts either its own proctored Versant English Placement Test or an approved external test, including IELTS General Training at a minimum of 7 in each band. Note this is IELTS General Training, not IELTS Academic — a distinction worth double-checking, since most other law-related IELTS requirements in this guide series specify Academic.
- A new stand-alone Indigenous Law and Peoples requirement, covering residential school history, UNDRIP, and Aboriginal-Crown relations, satisfiable through an approved short course.
Timeline and cost: the full NCA process commonly takes one to three years depending on how many exams you're assigned and how quickly you pass them, with total NCA-related costs (assessment fee, exam fees, prep) commonly estimated in the $2,000–$20,000 CAD range. These are approximate figures gathered from third-party guides rather than an official published table — confirm current fees directly on nca.legal before budgeting.
Which Path Applies to You
| Your situation | Path |
|---|---|
| New to law, want to practice in a common-law province | JD at a Canadian common-law school (LSAT required at most schools) |
| New to law, want to practice in Quebec | Civil-law LLB/LLL (LSAT not typically required) |
| Already hold a foreign law degree, want common-law licensure | NCA assessment → Certificate of Qualification → provincial bar admission |
| Already hold a foreign law degree, want to practice in Quebec | Separate Quebec Bar (Barreau du Québec) equivalence process — distinct from the NCA |
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