Purley

Someone asked me about a man they know who lives in South America - the story is that he is a lawyer there and wants to come to Canada. Apparently this man does not speak English. I said I couldnt imagine it would be a good idea. Why not be a lawyer in your own country? I said I assumed the person would have to learn English and then try to get into law school. That is assuming that he has a university degree in his own country that is accepted here.

Anybody have any different take on this?

BigBill

I think thats a good point. I have no first hand knowledge of law school qualifications, so I don't know how he would be affected, but one thing I did find was that in many cases and in many professions overseas qualifications/degrees etc are not usually accepted at face value in canada, and many immigrants have to re-train/take exams before they can work in their chosen field there, depending on the profession often for quite a long time.
To my mind this was (generally) the unions getting a bit too protective about their membership, but I'm sure other people will have their own views....I await the flaming...

Purley

I don't know what it costs to go go law school nowadays. However, my son has a Fine Arts degree and that cost plenty. I would guess that a law degree might cost upwards of $50,000. Maybe someone else knows.

The whole idea sounds crazy to me! The choices seem to be - work as a lawyer in your home country - or - come to Canada and work as a cleaner or cook in a fast food restaurant!!!

AndrewR

From my experience (well,my wife's actually) I would say its not just a potential problem for immigrants. It can also be a problem for moving between provinces. My wife's a teacher here in BC...went through the school system here, did her teaching degree here etc, so she's qualified to teach here in BC. However we did at one point look into going out to Ontario, just for a year to see somewhere different. But Ontario don't just accept a teaching certificate from BC....despite being a qualified teacher here, with experience under her belt, she would have to go back to school for a year and take a bunch of courses (most of them very minor) before she could teach in Ontario...seems a bit crazy to me, but hell I don't make the rules. Ironically it would be easier for her to get a job in the UK than in other parts of Canada...lucky for us as we're planning on moving back in a couple of years!
Anyway....I guess what I'm trying to say is that these potential barriers also exist between the provinces...

chch

I would imagine that the laws in wherever he comes from in South America are significantly different from what they are in Canada. He would definitely have to do extra training if not start from scratch.
And if he doesn't speak English how can he possibly practice law in English? Understanding the language and all its intricacies is extremely important if you're a lawyer. Especially since he would be dealing with legalese which can baffle even native English speakers.
Seems like a pretty untenable idea to me!

Purley

I am sure you are right. I worked as a paralegal (legal assistant) in Canada all my life until I took early retirement and its kind of the same as you say about teaching. If you have passed the Bar exam in Alberta and you want to practice law in Saskatchewan, you have to take the Saskatchewan Bar Exam, before that you are in the same position as an articling student. You can work in a law firm but you are not a lawyer.

As to the English language problem. Again, that would put a person in an impossible situation - it might take years and years before you could be fluent enough in English to practice law - in fact with some people it might never happen!!

I was told this story by someone who often has a problem telling the truth! My boyfriend is a fitness instructor who is learning to be a lawyer and he wants to come to Canada! My son said "what she means is her boyfriend is unemployed and he owns a set of weights!"

This is probably the only truth in the whole story!!