Consultation Invite – Potential New Approach to Bar Admission
Together with the Law Societies of Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan, the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society (NSBS), and the Canadian Centre for Professional Legal Education (CPLED) we are seeking input from the legal profession on a proposed new approach to the bar admission process. This consultation is a continuation of the work related to the Western Canada Competency Profile (WCCP).
There are four opportunities for lawyers and other parties involved in student development in Manitoba to participate.
New Lawyers (called to the bar in the past three years) | |
Thursday, April 16 Wednesday, April 22 | 10:30 a.m. – 12 noon (CST) 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. (CST) |
Public Sector Employers (those hiring articling students incl. the Courts ) | |
Friday, April 24 | 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. (CST) |
Articling Principals from all other workplaces (Non Public Sector) | |
Tuesday, April 21 Monday, April 27 | 10:30 a.m. – 12 noon (CST) 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. (CST) |
Manitoba-focused Session General session (For all Manitoba participants) | |
Friday, April 17 | 10:30 a.m. – 12 noon (CST) |
Participants will be asked to do the following:
- Read a consultation paper related to the WCCP and the new proposed approach to the bar admission process in advance (~30-minute activity).
- Commit to attending a 90-minute virtual consultation session facilitated by our external consultants, WestRock Measurement, LLC.
- Be willing to engage in discussion with other lawyers and key stakeholders during the session.
Submit Your Expression of Interest
If you are interested in participating, please fill out the brief survey (linked below) by Friday, March 27. Be sure to indicate each session you could potentially participate in and tentatively block the date(s)/time(s) in your calendar. If there are other people in your workplace who are involved in student development, we invite you to forward this invitation to them.
Selected individuals will be notified by Monday, April 6.
Should there be more expressions of interest than we have availability, we will make selections to create the best representation of diverse perspectives across the legal profession.
Note: if you cannot participate in the consultations, there will be another chance to provide input later this Spring when an Invitation to Comment will be disseminated widely.
We welcome your potential participation in this important engagement.
Background
In 2024 the Law Societies of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan (the western law societies) collaborated to develop a framework of competencies students would need to demonstrate for bar admission, known as the WCCP. The competencies outlined in the WCCP define the knowledge, skills and abilities that an individual should have at the time they are called to the bar in any of the participating jurisdictions.
Following the approval of the WCCP, the western law societies, later joined by the NSBS, engaged in work and discussions to consider how best to implement the WCCP in the five jurisdictions. CPLED, the organization that administers the common bar admission program for the prairie provinces and the NSBS in the form of the Practice Readiness Program (PREP), was invited to participate in those discussions. As of September 2026, PREP will be the only bar admission training program offered in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Nunavut and Saskatchewan.
During those discussions, the law societies, NSBS and CPLED developed a concept for a proposed new approach for bar admission, grounded in educational best practices and the WCCP competencies. The proposed new approach would represent a shift in what is taught and assessed during bar admission training and articling.
To learn more about the WCCP initiative.
