Every day, I see what a lot of people who have attained milestones post on social media without any recourse to things that went on in the background. People deliberately hide their failures, and only recount the better part of the story because we all want to appear perfect. I have read stories about lawyers who have gone through the lawyer licensing process; some claimed it was very easy for them and others said it was seamless. Of course, stories like these may receive praises, however, they are usually oblivious of several issues that an Internationally Trained Lawyer (ITL) faces while trying to get their license. 

I earned my Bachelor of Laws degree from a University in Nigeria, and I was called to the Nigerian bar in 2016. Nigerians are very educated people and we always want to achieve more. For this reason, I eagerly left my country for Toronto to obtain my Master of Laws at the University of Toronto after being trained at the Nigerian Law School. Towards the end of my Master’s program, I was faced with the decision to either to go back to Nigeria or stay in Ontario to start the Lawyer Licensing Process. I chose the latter, without having the slightest idea of the huge task I had before me. Several people advised me to go with the former including some of my professors, but I turned deaf ears to them. 

The first time I noticed there was a difference between ITLs and local lawyers was when I attended my first Articling mixer. I articled with the City of London between 2018 and 2019 and had attended networking events in the past. I didn’t think this was going to be different. Alas! I was wrong. Ten minutes into the mixer, I quickly realized I stood out from the crowd. People formed little groups and everyone seemed to know one another. Most of the lawyers and articling students at the mixer either went to the same law school or worked at the same firm so they had an instant connection. I felt out of place and it was very hard for me to fit in as an ITL. 

I finally summoned courage and walked up to some lawyers and articling students and started a conversation with them. 

“Where are you from?” “What law school did you go to?” “Why did you decide to move to Canada?” “Are you going back to your country when you are done with the licensing process?” “How did you get an articling position with the City if you didn’t school here?” These were the type of questions I was asked. 

For me, answering these questions was not that simple. I had to explain that I got my law degree from Nigeria, came to Canada for my Masters, wrote the National Committee on Accreditation (NCA) exams, applied for an articling position without going through On- Campus Interview (OCI), and wrote the bar exams while I was articling. Sometimes I wished my answer was as straightforward as: “I went to Western Law School or I went to UofT.” It would have been easy to switch to other subjects. 

I quickly became aware that most of the local lawyers/articling students I interacted with, were not familiar with the route for becoming an ITL. Some of them didn’t know what the NCA is, and some had no idea how expensive it was to re-qualify as a lawyer without any financial aid. The licensing process was different for ITLs, ranging from writing the NCA exams, to finding an articling position (which is often the most difficult part of the process for ITLs), to studying and writing the bar exams, and having to constantly explain and defend why you chose this route. 

ITLs have three major hurdles to cross. The first hurdle is completing the NCA exams. The NCA assesses the legal qualification of an individual who obtained their credentials from a civil or common law country. Thankfully, Nigeria is a common law jurisdiction so I only had to write three courses. These exams are self-study exams and they are also very expensive. Studying these courses from scratch without any help while doing menial jobs on the side to make ends meet is highly demanding. This is the reality for almost every ITL. 

The next tough hurdle to cross is finding an articling position. I was lucky enough to article with the City of London, but this is not the case for many ITLs. ITLs are not privy to attending OCIs and are also not privy to the resources that Career Development Offices offer law students. After conversing with some of my friends, I found out that the average ITL puts in more than 50 applications and the majority of these applications come with rejection. This is because most lawyers are not familiar with that route and they would rather the familiar route. ITLs who are lucky enough to get an interview always have to prove themselves, giving sound explanations of their backgrounds irrespective of whether they have a common law background or not. 

The ripple effect of not finding an articling placement is that it becomes almost impossible to find a job once the licensing process is complete. Most employers are not willing to take a chance on an ITL who doesn’t have any work experience in Canada and this forces many ITLs to start their own practice, not because they want to, but because they must or they will have to leave the practice of law completely. 

The last and most difficult hurdle to cross for me was the bar exam. The first few days of studying the bar materials were very overwhelming and I started to re- think my decision to re-qualify. Imagine being given almost 2000 pages of materials you have never seen in your life to study in six (6) weeks while articling at the same time! Seriously, it was really overwhelming. A large number of ITLs fail at their first attempt and I was no exception. 

It is important to understand that the licensing journey is not a bed of roses for ITLs, and I hope this article sheds some light on some of the challenges ITLs face. This experience opened my eyes to the fact that an ITL has to work twice as hard to break through. ITLs are lawyers from different backgrounds, who bring a different flavour into the Canadian legal system. These are lawyers who are willing to take the risk of starting afresh. Local lawyers are encouraged to be open minded and learn about the lawyer licensing process for ITLs in Ontario. 

Let me know in the comment section, some of the challenges you had to face as a Foreign Trained Professional trying to requalify in a new country. Some ITL’s who are now qualified have reached out to me with similar stories.