Lawyer jobs in Canada
- Thread starter qargizmo
- Start date
You cannot get a job as a lawyer in Canada. You have not been called to the provincial bar and received your license. No law firm will go through the LMIA process to prove no Canadian or PR cold be hired. If you want to immigrate focus on that.
But you do have a license from Tajikistan, right? So in theory, people can hire you to represent them for legal services in that country from Canada.
In addition to what @Naturgrl has advised, to be hired by a law firm here, or to be hired at all as a lawyer, would require you to be a member of a provincial law society. Each province sets its own rules, and that includes what is required for those trained abroad to become qualified here. There is now a National Committee on Accreditation, which plays some role.
I am somewhat familiar with Ontario and with British Columbia. In Ontario, the governing body is the Law Society of Upper Canada. In BC, it's the Law Society of BC. Here's a link to a page on the website of the latter you might find informative:
https://www.lawsociety.bc.ca/becoming-a-lawyer-in-bc/
I am somewhat familiar with Ontario and with British Columbia. In Ontario, the governing body is the Law Society of Upper Canada. In BC, it's the Law Society of BC. Here's a link to a page on the website of the latter you might find informative:
https://www.lawsociety.bc.ca/becoming-a-lawyer-in-bc/
That's maybe drawing a bit of a long bow. I am not sure such a dismissive comment is warranted.
Hard to say just what is the advanced education the OP has in international business law, or the pedigree of the university(ies) attended. However, it might well be the case that if the OP is young and a with a strong foundation in legal training, that might open the door to a Canadian law school and the ability to work from there. Of course, that route will likely seem unpalatable to the OP, who seems to contemplate starting in Canada as a lawyer. If willing to start much lower down the food chain, it might pay off. Graduation from a Canadian law school, with the somewhat unique background the OP brings to the table, might make him or her a candidate for some of the law firms that operate internationally. But, it would be a long road. It would also not be worth pursuing unless some preliminary due diligence was done to see if, indeed, there would be some market for his/her talent if the long road was followed.
Would perhaps agree if you had a law degree from a large trading partner of Canada. Dual law degree from China and Canada, US and Canada, any other commonwealth country in Canada, etc. may be a unique selling point for the large Bay Street law firms but being a lawyer in Tajikistan wouldn’t bring a lot of benefit to most law firms. Hard enough to get a job in law these days for many Canadian grads. AI and tech in general has eliminated a lot of work entry level associates used to do and legal budgets have been cut or legal has been brought in house for many corporations.
That is, in large measure, why I qualified my response by saying preliminary due diligence would be required. While I remain of the view that his past training and experience might help with gaining admission to a Canadian law school, it might not be worth the effort if, once out in the job market, the OP was not seen as having anything to offer more than any other Canadian law grad.
Your comments about the difficulties facing lawyers for work I find interesting. I have been out of law practice for some time, and do okay working as a legal writer/editor/researcher. The main attraction there is I can work online from anywhere in the world and regulate my time and the work I do as I see fit. I am blissfully unaware of the hurly burly of life in the trenches for most lawyers.
Sure, you can be hired as a lawyer. That's what this thread is about.
But seriously, does this look like a job board? This forum is not a place to find jobs. You are wasting your time and that of legitimate members by posting here as you have.
I am sure it has, and, while I stay up to date in changes to the common law and legislation in BC, and federal legislation to the extent it applies in BC, I am now far removed from daily life in a downtown Vancouver law office. That, I am sure, has changed a lot.
However, some things never change. Such as good advocacy skills. The same skills that allowed one to present successful cases for clients 20 years ago remain the same. I say that because, since leaving law practice, every year I have returned to court and presented a few cases (in BC Provincial Court and BC Supreme Court), which I have done pro bono. Going to court now feels not much different than it did after my early years of practice, during which I learned a lot about advocacy.
Your comment points out one change. You call the law profession an "industry". I never heard that term used in relation to law practice heretofore. Maybe it is now common parlance. Are you in the industry or closely related? I take that to be the case.