Survey on the sequence of bar admission training, principal responsibilities and resources

The Law Societies of British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan, the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society and the Canadian Centre for Professional Legal Education (CPLED) are seeking feedback on Western Canada Competency Profile (WCCP) implementation. All five provinces use the Practice Readiness Education Program (PREP) for bar admission training.

Previous engagement was done with more than 100 lawyers and interested parties across the jurisdictions to support the drafting of a consultation paper. Participants represented various roles (e.g., recent calls, principals), geographic regions and practice settings (e.g., large firm, small firm, sole practice, government, courts, legal aid, academia). We are now seeking broader feedback on three key components:

• The order students complete the bar admission training program and articling;
• Role of principals in teaching and assessing the WCCP competencies; and
• Resources required to support principals, supervising lawyers and students during articling.

Submit your feedback

You are invited to review a detailed consultation paper about the proposed changes and provide feedback via this survey by Thursday, July 16. The consultation paper describes the proposed changes to the bar admission process and the thinking behind them. Please read the paper in its entirety before providing feedback.

Review the consultation paper

Complete the survey

No decisions have been made about whether to proceed with the proposed WCCP implementation approach. Recommendations to each respective law society on next steps will be informed by the feedback received through this survey, considerations around CPLED operations and the overall regulatory environment in each jurisdiction.

For any questions, please contact consultation@lsbc.org.