McGill.CA / Faculty of Law / BCL/JD Program / Program Description

Admission to the Legal Profession

The Faculty of Law’s Career Development Office (CDO) endeavours to maintain up-to-date information on Bar admission requirements for jurisdictions of interest to the majority of students graduating from the Faculty. However, it is the student's responsibility to ensure that they have fulfilled all requirements of the Bar to which they are applying, including pre-law educational requirements. 

Admission to the Legal Profession: Canada 

Information on the following Bars/Law Societies can be obtained by consulting their websites. For information on the National Committee on Accreditation, which oversees the transfer from one provincial bar to another, visit the Federation of Law Societies of Canada's website: www.flsc.ca. Transfer to the Quebec Bar is managed by the Comités des équivalences 

Admission to the Legal Profession: The United States 

The J.D. degree is an approved law degree in some U.S. jurisdictions (i.e., NY and MA), and is accepted as the equivalent of a degree in law from an accredited U.S. law school in those jurisdictions. This approval means that McGill graduates may proceed through the Bar admission process in those jurisdictions in the same way as their U.S. counterparts, subject to a “Foreign Legal Education Evaluation” process for the New York Bar. 

You can obtain information on the Bar examinations of New York and Massachusetts by consulting the following websites: 

In addition to requiring a recognized law degree, some states require specific pre-law studies in order for a candidate to be eligible to sit state Bar exams. Students contemplating practice in the United States should ensure as early as possible that they will meet the Bar admission requirements of the jurisdiction in which they intend to practice. Further information on a number of jurisdictions is available in the Career Development Office's online resources. 

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