The National Requirement: Current and Future Impacts on Legal Education

The Federation of Law Societies of Canada (the “Federation”) is a national association of 14 Canadian law societies. One of the Federations roles is to approve Canadian law schools. To be approved a law school must require that each of its graduates meet the Federation’s National Requirement. But what is the National Requirement and what does it require?

The National Requirement, which came into force in 2015, sets out the specific knowledge and skills Canadian common law program graduates must demonstrate to be ready to enter a bar admission program. The National Requirement is also the standard against which internationally trained lawyers’ and law graduates’ credentials are assessed to determine if their credentials are equivalent to those acquired in a Canadian common law degree or if those lawyers and graduates require additional courses or exams before they can be granted a certificate of qualification, commonly called a CQ. Having acquired a CQ internationally trained lawyers’ and law graduates are ready to enter a bar admission program.

In general, the National Requirement sets out the following:

• competencies that common law graduates must obtain
• program length including course credit hours and required resources

The current version of the National Requirement, in effect since January 1, 2018, sets out the following requirements.

A. Competencies

1. 1. Skills
      • problem-solving
      • legal research
      • oral and written communication
   2. Ethics and Professionalism
      • substantive knowledge
      • identification and analysis of ethical problems
   3. Substantive Legal Knowledge
      • foundations of Canadian law
      • Canadian constitutional law
      • Canadian criminal law
      • Canadian administrative law
      • contracts
      • torts
      • property law

B. Academic Program

• • three full-time academic years or equivalent (90 course credits)
  • study primarily in-person
  • a course dedicated to ethics and professionalism
  • admission requirements that include a minimum of two years of post-secondary education at a recognized university or collège d’enseignement general et professionnel (CEGEP)

C. Learning Resources

• • adequate instructional resources including appropriate numbers of properly qualified academic staff
  • adequate physical resources
  • adequate information and communication technology
  • maintenance of a law library in electronic and/or paper form

The above list is an overview of the requirements. The National Requirement contains additional detail particularly regarding the breakdown of the skills that must be demonstrated to meet the skills competencies. Overall, however, minimal direction is provided on how or what needs to be done to ensure graduates obtain the competencies. The impact of the National Requirement on law school curriculum however is that law schools must provide course content that covers the competencies, which are evident in their lists of required substantive law courses and their legal research and writing or foundational legal skills course(s).

January 2029 amended National Requirement

The impact of the National Requirement on law school curriculum will increase in January of 2029 when the amended National Requirement (approved March 12, 2024) comes into effect. The amendments include the additional of the following requirements:

• Indigenous context, law, and perspective
• online learning
• experiential learning opportunities
• collaboration and teamwork opportunities
• credit requirement for the ethics and professionalism course

Indigenous Context, Law, and Perspective

The amended National Requirement adds to the substantive law requirements by including the requirement for graduates to demonstrate an understanding of Canada’s history with Indigenous Peoples, “the sources and authorities of Indigenous law” and “Indigenous legal theories and methodologies.” Due to pre-existing changes, the impact of this amendment to the National Requirement will likely have minimal or no effect except for allowing the Federation of Law Societies of Canada to meet its obligation under the Truth and Reconciliations Calls to Action, Call to Action number 27 which calls on the Federation of Law Societies of Canada to ensure appropriate cultural competency training including the Indigenous context, law and perspective and was released in 2015. Law schools have already welcomed the need to meet their obligations under Call to Action 28 which calls on law schools to require their students to take courses in Indigenous history, law, and traditions. Law schools have addressed this call by developing courses, many of them mandatory, covering the substantive areas identified in the National Requirement amendment.

Online Learning

Although online learning has been around from some time, its use was limited in education until the pandemic. Since then, much has been learned about online learning, so its use has grown. The current National Requirement, however, is unclear about the use of online learning and requires study to be primarily in-person. The amendment to include online learning will permit students to take up to 30 credits using online instruction or distance learning. This change will permit law schools to consider innovative ways to deliver their programs using online methods. It could also assist those who cannot easily attend in-person instruction to find ways to earn a law degree, which in turn could increase the diversity of graduates.

Experiential Learning Opportunities

Other forms of professional education and training have long embraced experiential learning to provide graduates with the skills needed to enter their given profession. Law schools have not ignored the benefits of experiential learning but neither have they accepted it. Law school course catalogues show the availability of experiential learning opportunities many of which fall under the traditional definition of experiential learning such as clinics, moots, and court placements. However, the enrollment to these opportunities is limited and only a few Canadian law schools have an experiential learning requirement as part of their program. Law schools for the most part continue to rely on doctrinal courses that teach the rules of law using the Socratic method, leaving experiential learning as a secondary form of learning taught by adjunct or sessional instructions who are practicing lawyers. The upcoming acknowledgement in the amended National Requirement of experiential learning as a component of the law school curriculum elevates its importance and supports the need for this form of learning to support the development of competencies needed by graduates.

Collaboration and Teamwork Opportunities

Collaboration and teamwork, like experiential learning, are common tools used in the training of other professionals. Practicing lawyers need to work with others and collaborate. Having the skills to work and collaborate in a team will assist law school graduates as they enter their bar admission program and continue to the practice of law. By including collaboration and teamwork specifically in the National Requirement, the Federation is establishing its importance as one of the competencies required by law school graduates and its need to be included as part of law school curriculum.

Credit Requirement for the Ethics and Professionalism Course

Ethics and professionalism are key components of being a lawyer and the focus of the legal professional at a time when civility is a major concern. Currently, the National Requirement requires a dedicated course in ethics and professionalism but does not set any other conditions. Some law schools already delivery ethics and professionalism courses of 3 to 4 credits but not all do. The amendment requirement for the course to be 3 credits stresses the importance of ethics and professionalism and the need for law school students to spend more time learning about this important issue. Law schools with courses worth less than 3 credits will need to revise their curriculum to expand their course to meet the three-credit requirement.

Future impact

The current impact of the National Requirement can be seen in the content of the mandatory courses delivered by approved law schools. The impact of the incoming amendments is yet to be seen, but it can be pondered. In some areas, for example, Indigenous Law, law schools have already proactively taken steps to adjust their curriculum, so the amendment will result in minimal change. In other case, like online delivery and experiential learning, space can be opened for innovation in the law school curriculum.

Law schools have until January 1, 2029, to incorporate the amendments to the National Requirement. While the exact impact of these changes is yet to be seen, they hold the potential to bring about changes that will benefit future students. Let’s see how well law schools take on the challenge.