May 13, 2026Back to Latest

The reinstatement Rules have been amended to provide greater clarity for applicants through a more efficient process. As part of this work, a new Reinstatement Guideline has been approved.

The reinstatement Rules apply to applicants seeking to change their status or reinstate as members or students-at-law.

The main changes to the Rules are summarized as follows:

• A single Reinstatement Committee will oversee these applications, rather than the previous process where the Conduct Committee, Credentials and Education Committee, and the Practice Review Committee all played a part.
• The Rules are reordered beginning with general rules of application, followed by specific rules for two separate divisions
  • Division 1 addresses reinstatements such as those changing status from inactive to active or non-practising to practising and those not included in Division 2.
  • Division 2 addresses reinstatements for former members who were disbarred including deemed disbarments, those who resigned in the face of discipline proceedings, and students-at-law who were deregistered.
• The Executive Director now has authority to impose conditions on reinstatement applicants. This allows more flexibility and responsiveness to the circumstances of a particular applicant, and will result in fewer hearings being required.
• All decisions by the Reinstatement Committee will now be published, but Division 1 hearings will remain private and decisions under Division 1 will not include the applicant’s name. If privacy concerns are raised under either Division 1 or 2, a process is in place for ordering a private hearing and/or redacting sensitive information in the decision.
• The previous Rules set out an expedited process for lawyers seeking to change their status from active non-practising status to practising status when they had been away from active status for three consecutive years or less. This expedited process is being removed because the timelines for processing reinstatement applications have decreased significantly, making the need for an expedited stream unnecessary.
• The Reinstatement Committee and the Benchers have the authority to award costs against a reinstatement applicant, and additional Rules were added to clarify the process to apply for an extension of the time for payment of costs. Also, the new Rules state that a failure to pay costs by the deadline will result in an administrative suspension.
• The Executive Director or the Reinstatement Committee can now deem a reinstatement application abandoned when an applicant fails to comply with pre-reinstatement conditions within the time frame set.

For more details, view the full Rules. If you have any questions, contact Customer Service.