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Bar Admission Course
The Bar Admission Course for Newfoundland and Labrador takes place in October
and November of each year. The Bar Course is a 7-8 week intensive educational experience which runs 9:00 - 5:00
daily and provides an extensive amount of information on provincial and federal law.
The Bar Course is the last formal educational experience prior to becoming a member of the Newfoundland Bar. As
such, the Course is a concentrated program, and is focused on providing the most important and essential information
and materials, in order to ensure students enter the profession with a high level of knowledge and familiarity
with Newfoundland and federal law.
The Bar Course provides students with a very comprehensive picture of the laws, practice and procedures of the
province. In recent years, the Course has expanded. Students receive information through seven weeks of Bar Admission
Course lectures, the Bar Admission materials and approximately 80 statutes, all of which are examinable in the
Bar Course examinations.
In addition to the examinable components, the Bar Course includes other important elements. Students participate
in discussions and lectures on risk management and practice management, ethics and professional responsibility
(for which students completed a separate assignment), trust accounting, and professional and personal development
issues.
The Course now also has an increasing emphasis on lawyering and transaction skills. Students participate in workshops
and lectures in Civil Advocacy, Examination-in-Chief/Cross-Examination, Interviewing Skills, Negotiation Skills,
Examination for Discovery, Real Estate Transactions, Title Searching and Surveys, Criminal Advocacy and a Mock
Trial and Sentencing Hearings.
To pass the Bar Course, students must pass examinations in Family Law, Commercial Law, Civil Procedure, Criminal
Law, Administrative Law and Real Estate/Wills. Students must receive a grade of at least 60% in each exam, with
an overall average of 65% to successfully complete the Course. Each exam is 3½ hours long and focuses on
the lecture presentations, the Bar Admission Course materials and the provincial and federal statutes and regulations
covered in the Course. The Bar Admission Course materials consist of 12 separate volumes and cover thousands of
pages of text and forms.
The goal of the Course is simple; it is to give new lawyers a comprehensive overview of Newfoundland and Labrador
law and procedure and transfer to them the necessary information to ensure entry level competence in the profession.
The Course is intensive, practical and relevant to what a new lawyer will see in practice. We attempt to have
the Course be an enjoyable and valuable educational experience for the students and the volunteer judges, lawyers
and other professionals whose contributions make the Course a success.
For further information regarding the Bar Admission Course in Newfoundland and Labrador please contact:
Francis P. O'Brien
Director of Legal Education
Law Society of Newfoundland
Telephone: (709) 722-4898
Email: francis.obrien@lawsociety.nf.ca
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