INTRODUCTION
National Committee of Accreditation Exam (NCA) is the Bar Exam of Canada held by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada. Like any other legal entrance exam, it assesses aspiring lawyers & graduates who want to practice law & be officially recognized as legal professionals on Canadian territory.
The NCA exam appraises the legal knowledge, working experience and other qualifications of the candidate to decide whether she/he/they are eligible for the Certificate of Qualification which allows the individual to apply for a license.
The NCA exam has a very standard procedure which is inclusive of candidates of foreign nationalities and if they are working professionals or graduates &/or postgraduate individuals with a LLB degree or a JD.
It can be held online which allows candidates to sit for the exam, sparing them the requirement to physically go to Canada& write the exam which will incur unwanted travel &residence expenses& difficulties.
SYLLABUS & FORMAT OF NCA EXAM
The Syllabus of the NCA Exam comprises of 6 mandatory subjects with 5 of them being core subjects. The NCA consists of 5 exams, each exam based on 1 core subject. The subjects can be checked through the PDFs which are present in the page titled ‘Assignments’ on the NCA official website.
- The Administrative Law of Canada =
It is a fundamental subject which explains the functions of the state upon the society. As an important part of public law, it willgovern the exercise of decision making power by all executive units of government and the decisions & approaches made byall14jurisdictions to the issues their territories face. The function of administrative law depends on how the policy choices made are received& how much can they develop in canadian public.
- The Constitutional Law of Canada =
The Canadian Constitution contains all the provisions that manage, uphold and protect the rights and interests of the people. Its functions focus on establishing legally enforceable obligations; framing the area for the constitutional exercise of power and expressing fundamental values and aspirations. It includes the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which ensure the protection & recognition of fundamental rights and freedoms on the international plane.
- The Canadian Criminal Law=
The study of Criminal Law must not only be studied in its entirety, each jurisdiction has their own way of administering the law of crimes which is a part of the development of the legal culture in each jurisdiction. The 4 reasons which attributed to that are:
- The Canadian Government is federal in nature which has authority over the definition and procedure of the Criminal Law. But the actual administration of the law are left to the provincial jurisdictions which led to a mix of federal & provincial rules towards the topics. Lawyers must take great care & understanding in how these rules are to be interpreted.
- Due to common law offences not being permitted in Canada, the principles that should identify and animate the Canadian Law are buried in case laws instead of being placed in official statutes, causing a lack of public recognition.
- The Canadian Criminal Law is heavily amended, with political forces being the main influencers behind the changes.
- The Criminal Law is almost completely defined by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms which leads to Criminal Law being studied simultaneously with Constitutional Law.
- Canadian Professional Responsibility =
The competency to manage the legal profession is determined by the knowledge, skills and professionalism of the individual being assessed. It is recognised in canadian contextthat every lawyer must be be familiar and versed in the following areas:
- The duty to communicate with civility;
- The ability to identify and address ethical dilemmas in a legal context;
- The familiarity with the general principles of ethics and professionalism applying to the practice of law in Canada, including those related to:
- Circumstances that give rise to ethical problems.
- The fiduciary nature of the lawyer’s relationship with the client.
- Conflicts of interest.
- Duties to the administration of justice.
- Duties relating to confidentiality and disclosure.
- An awareness of the importance of professionalism in dealing withclients, other counsel, judges, court staff and members of the public; and
- The importance and value of serving and promoting the public interestin the administration of justice.
- Foundations of Canadian Law =
It teaches the students about the basic structures and origins that make up Canadian Law. Despite its origins from various laws of different countries, namely Europe, USA & Ireland; it is highly recommended that this subject be practiced from the start without relying on the expertise towards the laws behind the growth of Canadian Law.
It also coversthe distribution of powers, canadian bijuralism, the theories that influenced Canadian legal thought, the judicial decision-making process and the multifaceted relationship between the state & the aboriginal peoples of Canada.
- Legal Research and Writing =
The importance of Legal Research and Legal Writing is explicit. Lawyers are expected to conduct legal research anytime a client visits not only to aid in the representation of their case but to also extract the entire picture as it is not unusual for several clients to be less inclined in giving the complete side of their story to the matter.
Writing goes hand in hand with legal research skills. Writing legal documents must not just entail the competency of the lawyer in charge, but also should be able to carry the accurate and/or desired interpretation of the legal matters written in public purview.
This subject is potentially the easiest subject in the syllabus of the NCA on account of being a shared subject and a very familiar one.
CHALLENGES FACED DURING NCA PREPARATION
- The exam will be written in online form which will bring up a number of difficulties from:
- Technical delays due to the online medium that the candidates must adhere to while writing the exam.
- Inability to use some of the technical tools on the page while writing the problem questions.
- Difficulty in trying to provide a desired presentation of the answers to the problem questions in the exam.
- The NCA has a sensitive reception towards aspirants having delays in their preparation including submission of assignments as part of their practice. The burden from having delays affects the aspirants alone and there are several individuals who are it risk of facing delays due to the amalgamation of their backgrounds & current circumstances. It becomes a critical problem for the candidates with disadvantaged situations especially for the ones who have to borrow resources or take loans to make up for the delays in their preparation to succeed the NCA, with may ominously end in failure due to the difficulty rate of success.
- There are certain specific subjects that are not officially listed as part of the syllabus and yet they cover some of the question matter better than the 5 core subjects. There will be instances where the syllabus will slightly differ from one aspirant to another due to the nature of the law degree that each aspirant will use as part of meeting the eligibility criteria for the National Committee for Accreditation Exam.
STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVEMENT
- While preparing for the NCA exam, you should appraise the online exam structure and the type of technical tools which are expected to be used as part of writing the exam. Practice using such tools and writing paragraphs through the types of question format (MCQ, Problem based questions, simple sentence based questions etc) until you gain a level of familiarity. This will not only aid you in approaching the exam format with confidence, it will enable you to manage the writing of the exam as efficiently as possible with the least technical risks.
- Organisation of study groups, preferably by individuals who have repeatedand/or failed the exam. It is imperative to obtain advice and study tips from the individuals that have failed and repeated the NCA Exam as they do not forget the the difficulties they faced from their preparation & attempt.
- For aspirants attending the courses who might face different topics compared to others, it is advisable to categorise the topics outside of the core subjects but will end up in the exam by the designated subject such as:
- Family Law (AB/BC/ON)
- Commerical Law
- Civil Procedure
- Tax law
- Remedies
- Tort Law
Then you can save the selected questions for later or until they become an immediate necessity to learn.
CONCLUSION
Thefailing of the NCA exam will unsurprisingly feel like the end of the world for you. There is no pressure but your own motivations upon yourself which drives the preparation & practice to succeed the NCA exam. However, you must personally recognise your own efforts for every attempt and re-write of the assessment before anybody else.
Important links & references:
- NCA Website – https://nca.legal/about/
- The Current State of NCA –https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/current-state-nca-national-committee-accreditation-sammy-alroub
- Online Exam Rules – https://nca.legal/exams/online-exam-rules/#:~:text=You%20may%20write%20NCA%20exams,fee%20for%20each%20re%2Dwrite.
- Exam Policies for NCA – https://nca.legal/resources/nca-policies-and-guidelines/
