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Solicitors emigrating to Canada
I have a very good friend who is a Solicitor hoping to emigrate to Canada. Is there anyone from a similar profession who can advise me what hurdles he will face regarding requalifying, and then getting a position with a legal firm?
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Re: Solicitors emigrating to Canada
Originally Posted by Covenant
I have a very good friend who is a Solicitor hoping to emigrate to Canada. Is there anyone from a similar profession who can advise me what hurdles he will face regarding requalifying, and then getting a position with a legal firm?
Hi I am a criminal defence solicitor emigrating to vancouver in jan 05. Basically its a nightmare to re qualify! and it angers me greatly. Firstly you have to send all your credentials to the accreditation committee in Ottawa. They then look at your history, ie grades, degree status, qualifications and experience and decide how long you have to go back to uni if at all. If you go to their website and look under foreign lawyers it gives you examples ie if you have a 2;2 and 3-5 years experience, expect to go to uni for 30 credit hours(one year!) THEN........ on top of that you must do LPC again! and training contract (you can apply for time off this) whats even more frustrating is that there are only 2 uni's in BC with 10 places for foreign lawers!!!! I am certainly not prepared to go back to uni and start from scratch, been there done that! so my plan is to work over the border, as I am allowed to sit the Washington State Bar immediately, so once I pass I will be a fully quailified attorney. Salaries are good, better that uk for crime. What field is your friend in? i have contacted several lawyers who have been most helpful. I plan to make contacts once in Van, work as a paralegal whilst I study for the bar. the rules are outrageous. There is rumour it may change, but not till 2006. contact details for their website: www.flsc.ca (go to foreign lawyer section) tel: 613 562 5204 e mail [email protected] (shes very helpful) BEST OF LUCK TO YOUR FRIEND. X |
Re: Solicitors emigrating to Canada
Originally Posted by Hudman
Hi
I am a criminal defence solicitor emigrating to vancouver in jan 05. Basically its a nightmare to re qualify! and it angers me greatly. Firstly you have to send all your credentials to the accreditation committee in Ottawa. They then look at your history, ie grades, degree status, qualifications and experience and decide how long you have to go back to uni if at all. If you go to their website and look under foreign lawyers it gives you examples ie if you have a 2;2 and 3-5 years experience, expect to go to uni for 30 credit hours(one year!) THEN........ on top of that you must do LPC again! and training contract (you can apply for time off this) whats even more frustrating is that there are only 2 uni's in BC with 10 places for foreign lawers!!!! I am certainly not prepared to go back to uni and start from scratch, been there done that! so my plan is to work over the border, as I am allowed to sit the Washington State Bar immediately, so once I pass I will be a fully quailified attorney. Salaries are good, better that uk for crime. What field is your friend in? i have contacted several lawyers who have been most helpful. I plan to make contacts once in Van, work as a paralegal whilst I study for the bar. the rules are outrageous. There is rumour it may change, but not till 2006. contact details for their website: www.flsc.ca (go to foreign lawyer section) tel: 613 562 5204 e mail [email protected] (shes very helpful) BEST OF LUCK TO YOUR FRIEND. X Unfortunately I don't know the field that my friend practices in, but I have passed your valuable info on to him and suggested that he joins the Expats and hopefully can talk directly to you. Again, deeply grateful. regards C |
Re: Solicitors emigrating to Canada
My sister lives in Vancouver and she needed some documents notarized and phoned some people who live near her. It turned out (and I may have got this story a bit wrong - but its basically right) that these people were from Belgium. Both the husband and the wife were solicitors in Belgium and they were encouraged to find when they wanted to emigrate that the people at the immigration office were delighted to tell them that solicitors were needed in Canada. Of course, what they didn't bother to tell them was that they would have to repeat all their education.
So now they are working as Notaries in Vancouver and they are very disillusioned about the information that is given out to potential immigrants. I think its ridiculous for people coming from the UK to have to requalify again. I can see the sense in making people take the provincial Bar exams as they do when moving from province to province because obviously you would need to know the specific province's statutes. But starting again more or less - how stupid!! They keep talking about revising the immigration requirements and accepting immigrants' qualifications from other countries, but so far it seems like just a lot of talk and no action. |
Re: Solicitors emigrating to Canada
Originally Posted by Hudman
Hi
I am a criminal defence solicitor emigrating to vancouver in jan 05. Basically its a nightmare to re qualify! and it angers me greatly. Firstly you have to send all your credentials to the accreditation committee in Ottawa. They then look at your history, ie grades, degree status, qualifications and experience and decide how long you have to go back to uni if at all. If you go to their website and look under foreign lawyers it gives you examples ie if you have a 2;2 and 3-5 years experience, expect to go to uni for 30 credit hours(one year!) THEN........ on top of that you must do LPC again! and training contract (you can apply for time off this) whats even more frustrating is that there are only 2 uni's in BC with 10 places for foreign lawers!!!! I am certainly not prepared to go back to uni and start from scratch, been there done that! so my plan is to work over the border, as I am allowed to sit the Washington State Bar immediately, so once I pass I will be a fully quailified attorney. Salaries are good, better that uk for crime. What field is your friend in? i have contacted several lawyers who have been most helpful. I plan to make contacts once in Van, work as a paralegal whilst I study for the bar. the rules are outrageous. There is rumour it may change, but not till 2006. contact details for their website: www.flsc.ca (go to foreign lawyer section) tel: 613 562 5204 e mail [email protected] (shes very helpful) BEST OF LUCK TO YOUR FRIEND. X Is there a residency requirement to sit the Washington state bar? |
Re: Solicitors emigrating to Canada
Originally Posted by CalgaryAMC
Is there a residency requirement to sit the Washington state bar?
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Re: Solicitors emigrating to Canada
Originally Posted by CalgaryAMC
Is there a residency requirement to sit the Washington state bar?
No.Each state has different rules for foreign lawyer admission, but thankfully not are as restrictive as Canada!!!!!!!! ggggrrrr I can sit the Washington State Bar, and once i pass i can "waiver" in to about 20 other states! which is great. Only problem is not sure how the immigration issue works, looking into that as we speak |
Re: Solicitors emigrating to Canada
Don't understand how you can work in the US if you do not have US work permit or residency???? Regardless of where you have taken your bar exams if you don't have the legal right to work in the US you will not be entitled to do so. Plus if you make frequent trips over US border using VWP US border control will be on you like a ton of bricks. Plus Canadian residents can not utilise the T1 visa - that is only open to Canadian citizens. Be very careful with what you are doing.
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Re: Solicitors emigrating to Canada
Originally Posted by hubbard
Don't understand how you can work in the US if you do not have US work permit or residency???? Regardless of where you have taken your bar exams if you don't have the legal right to work in the US you will not be entitled to do so. Plus if you make frequent trips over US border using VWP US border control will be on you like a ton of bricks. Plus Canadian residents can not utilise the T1 visa - that is only open to Canadian citizens. Be very careful with what you are doing.
Hi I am looking into this, its very common in Vancouver, most criminal lawyers I have contacted practice over the border, as well as Vancouver as their clients often get arrested there. There is obviously a way round it. |
Re: Solicitors emigrating to Canada
Originally Posted by Hudman
Hi
I am looking into this, its very common in Vancouver, most criminal lawyers I have contacted practice over the border, as well as Vancouver as their clients often get arrested there. There is obviously a way round it. |
Re: Solicitors emigrating to Canada
Originally Posted by Bob
Could it be that they are Canadian citizens? :)
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Re: Solicitors emigrating to Canada
Originally Posted by Hudman
not always, some are residents only. Will have to see immigrationlawyer once I am there. Was rather hoping to contact another lawyer on here, but to no avail.
Jeremy |
Re: Solicitors emigrating to Canada
Originally Posted by JAJ
The bottom line is that if you want to work in the US you need the right *American* visa to do so. Breaking US immigration laws is a seriously bad idea.
Jeremy |
Re: Solicitors emigrating to Canada
Originally Posted by Hudman
gosh, thes forums are insane. Have no plan to "break immigration laws", have been trying to research if there is a way to legally work in washington, whilst residing in Van. Chill!
I was thinking about your inquiry though. I had guessed you were talking about living and working in Vancouver but handling Washington cases, hence my question about residency. Scenario seems reasonable to me where there is no residency requirement or other similar prohibition. So then I was wondering about court appearances or client meetings. Would you need to do any of those in Washington state itself? |
Re: Solicitors emigrating to Canada
Originally Posted by Covenant
I have a very good friend who is a Solicitor hoping to emigrate to Canada. Is there anyone from a similar profession who can advise me what hurdles he will face regarding requalifying, and then getting a position with a legal firm?
http://www.britishexpats.com/forum/s...d.php?t=161363 My advice: Tell your friend not to bother. Canadian professions seem to get a perverted pleasure from rubbishing foreign qualifications and making professionals start from scratch, in order to protect their own. |
Re: Solicitors emigrating to Canada
Originally Posted by discouraged
My advice: Tell your friend not to bother. Canadian professions seem to get a perverted pleasure from rubbishing foreign qualifications and making professionals start from scratch, in order to protect their own.
I can't think of a profession where you don't need to requalify ... the real issue is that Brits make up a tiny proportion of immigrants ... while Brit qualifications *may* be at least equal or possibly superior to Canadian ones, you have to jump through the same loopholes as every other foreign qualified professional. After three years in Canada, that's starting to make sense to me ... I admit that I look for Brit or Canadian professionals first ... if I can't find either, I like to make sure that whoever I am using is actually qualified to do the job in Canada. It's tough on wannabe expats, but it's part of the cost of coming here ... don't believe anyone with a vested interest in attracting you to Canada ... including the government. |
Re: Solicitors emigrating to Canada
Originally Posted by Glaswegian
You hit the nail on the head ... Canada needs professional immigrants, but local professional bodies protect their members' interests with a passion.
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Re: Solicitors emigrating to Canada
It doesn't seem to be too bad for me, as a physiotherapist.
I qualified before degrees were thought of, so I fully expected the credentialling organisation to insist I upgrade to a degree. However, after about 10 months consideration, and a few letters flying to and fro, they've accepted my equivalency with no further study! :) The only thing I do have to take is the professional competency exam, so I need to revise for that, but this is something every physio in Canada has to undertake, regardless of where they qualify, plus I can get paid employment "under mentorship" until I pass it! We're just waiting for visas now! (12 months since we sent off skilled worker application) Good luck everybody who's struggling, and a Happy New Year to all! Morw :beer: |
Re: Solicitors emigrating to Canada
Originally Posted by hot wasabi peas
To be honest, I've never heard of a cry for more of them.
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Re: Solicitors emigrating to Canada
Originally Posted by Morwenna
However, after about 10 months consideration, and a few letters flying to and fro, they've accepted my equivalency with no further study! :)
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Re: Solicitors emigrating to Canada
Originally Posted by Glaswegian
Awesome ... maybe physios are more popular than lawyers ;)
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Re: Solicitors emigrating to Canada
Originally Posted by Glaswegian
Awesome ... maybe physios are more popular than lawyers ;)
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Re: Solicitors emigrating to Canada
Originally Posted by hot wasabi peas
There's a pun about 'pains in the neck' somewhere in this... but I'm not awake enough to fish it out.
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Re: Solicitors emigrating to Canada
Originally Posted by Glaswegian
... there must be a funny way to wrap that concept up.
It's been tried many, many times believe me, and it seldom is anything but rather unfunny, and possibly a little sad! ;) |
Re: Solicitors emigrating to Canada
Originally Posted by Glaswegian
You hit the nail on the head ... Canada needs professional immigrants, but local professional bodies protect their members' interests with a passion.
I can't think of a profession where you don't need to requalify ... the real issue is that Brits make up a tiny proportion of immigrants ... while Brit qualifications *may* be at least equal or possibly superior to Canadian ones, you have to jump through the same loopholes as every other foreign qualified professional. I think the real problem with getting accredited in Canada is not so much the need to do an exam or two, but more restrictive issues such as needing to re-do an apprenticeship or articleship, or being forced to take the exam at a particular university on a full time basis, or one with very few places. The US requires exams for most UK professionals too but the process itself seems to be a lot easier. That's the difference. Australia and New Zealand seem friendlier (although not entirely without obstacles - depends on profession) to those with qualifications from the UK. Jeremy |
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