Admission to the Bar of Quebec is a prerequisite for practising law in Quebec.[2]
Quebec applicants must be graduates of the law faculty of one of six universities: the Université de Montréal, the Université du Québec à Montréal, McGill University, Laval University, the University of Ottawa, or theUniversité de Sherbrooke.[3] In addition, applicants must attend a four- or eight-month course at the École du Barreau (Bar School), and complete a six-month apprenticeship.[4] Finally, applicants must pass a character and fitness examination before the Comité de vérification du Barreau du Québec (Verification Committee of the Bar of Quebec). Practising attorneys must complete 30 hours of continuing legal education every two years.[5]
Lawyers from other Canadian provinces and foreign lawyers can be temporarily admitted (for not more than twelve months) by submitting an "Application for a Special Authorization for a Person Practising Outside Québec." [6]They can also obtain semi-permanent or permanent full admission on application. Full admission for lawyers from elsewhere in Canada requires, among other things, that the applicant demonstrate adequate proficiency in French and successfully complete examinations on civil law and legislation.[7] Foreign applicants may be admitted only by obtaining an undergraduate degree from a Quebec law school or by approval of the Bar of Quebec's Equivalences Committee, which may impose applicant-specific conditions for admission.[8]
|