NCA Accreditation and Job Postings
The Law Society knows that many firms are busy with recruiting at this time of year. We encourage you to review your firm/organization’s job opportunity postings to ensure that they are inclusive and do not inadvertently exclude qualified applicants.
Rules 50, 50.1 and 50.2 of the Rules of the Law Society of Alberta govern the academic requirements for prospective members of the Law Society of Alberta with Canadian common-law degrees, Canadian civil law degrees (LL.B. and J.D.) and non-Canadian law degrees. Specifically, Rule 50.2(2) articulates that a J.D. or LL.B. from a faculty of common law at a Canadian University or an equivalent program approved by the Federation of Law Societies’ National Committee on Accreditation (NCA) are considered to be acceptable for eligibility for membership.
It is important for firms to recognize both Canadian law degrees and accreditation through the NCA process in their postings. Firms are free to state or negotiate any deadlines they may set around when an applicant needs to have completed the NCA certification process to apply for roles, but it is not appropriate to exclude NCA certification from opportunity postings.
For more information or to review additional resources that may assist your firm in developing more equitable frameworks and opportunities, please contact our Equity Ombudsperson.