Have you ever considered working overseas and gaining some international experience?
Representing and supporting globally minded legal professionals is a key part of our mission. In an ever increasingly globalized world, we want to support lawyers in Canada with the network and insight needed to pursue an international legal career. Members of GLC come from all parts of the world, each member bring with them extensive business and legal networks and know how. By connecting internationally trained lawyers with Canadian lawyers that want to practice globally, the synergy opportunities are endless.
We have provided short guides on the qualification process for Canadian-qualified lawyers in certain popular jurisdictions. Let us know if you would like to find out more about a particular process.
England and Wales
Qualifying as an England and Wales solicitor is a popular route for Canadian lawyers to work overseas, mainly because many law firms in international and offshore financial centres (eg. London, Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, etc.) will recognize, look favourably upon, and sometimes require, the England and Wales qualification.
There will be two processes for qualification depending on if you are already qualified as a lawyer outside of England and Wales, or if you have just finished your law degree. As many of our members are already qualified lawyers, we will address the former, however Chambers has addressed both processes clearly in this article.
Current route until 2021: QLTS
The Qualified Lawyers Transfer Scheme (QLTS) was introduced by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) on 1 September 2010 to replace the old QLTT (Qualified Lawyers Transfer Test).
To be eligible for the QLTS you need to be a qualified lawyer in an SRA-recognized jurisdiction and have followed the full route to qualification. The SRA has appointed Kaplan Law School as the sole provider of the QLTS assessments. Regulations prohibit Kaplan from offering preparatory training for the assessments, so this task is left to other course providers including BPP, QLTS School, and City Law School.
You can find more information on QLTS assessments, rules and deadlines on Kaplan’s website.
The QLTS assessment is divided into two parts:
- Part 1 covers 11 areas: the English legal system and EU law; constitutional law and judicial review; professional conduct and solicitors’ accounts; regulatory and fiscal issues; contract law; torts; criminal law; land law; equitable rights; human rights; and business structures and legal personality. The MCT assessment is divided into two sessions of nearly three hours each, with 90 questions in each session. It is delivered online and can be taken in the UK as well as in other major cities around the world.
Objective structured clinical examination (OSCE):
- Part 2 involves a client interview and completion of attendance notes/case analysis, advocacy/oral presentation, and online legal research, legal writing and legal drafting. The practice areas covered are business law; civil and criminal litigation; and property and probate law. The OSCE runs across several days and is offered in the UK only.More information on the content of the assessments is available on Kaplan’s website.
Applicants need to pass the MCT before progressing to the OSCE. Applicants can re-take the assessment as many times as you want. There is no time limit for completing the two parts of the assessment within a certain time period.
More information on the content of the assessments is available on Kaplan’s website. The SRA website provides a lot more information on assessments, qualifying jurisdictions and the QLTS in general.
2021 onwards: SQE
From 2021, the QLTS will be replaced by the Solicitors Qualifying Examination (SQE), a two-part exam to be taken by anyone who want to qualify as a solicitor in England and Wales. This will change things for both domestic and overseas candidates, as overseas lawyers will need to pass this exam to practice in England and Wales. The SRA recently appointed Kaplan, which administers the QLTS, as the assessor for the SQE.
You can read more about the Solicitors Qualifying Examination with the SRA here.