Apply to the FTLP Program

• Application requirements
• Online application
• After you apply
• Frequently asked questions

The FTLP is designed to meet the unique needs of internationally-trained lawyers who wish to practice common law in Canada. Those internationally-trained lawyers fall into two broad categories:

1. Newcomers to Canada, including international students, who have obtained their legal education in common law, civil law, or both, and may have practiced law in their home jurisdictions, and either have obtained their Canadian Permanent Residence or Citizenship status, or will have the requisite immigration status to work in Canada when they do their articles after program completion.
2. Canadian citizens and Permanent Residents who have obtained their legal education in common law, civil law, or both, outside Canada and have returned or are intending to return to Canada to practice common law. 

NOTE: You must apply to the National Committee on Accreditation to receive your Assessment Report detailing the Canadian common law subjects that you need to pass before applying to the program.

The minimum requirements for admission to the FTLP Post-Bachelor's certificate are:

1. A completed law degree (LLB, JD, or equivalent) from an approved, recognized, accredited or otherwise accepted law school;
2. A valid National Committee on Accreditation (NCA) Assessment Report, issued within the last five (5) years, that shows required courses and law degree information;
3. A valid NCA Assessment Completion Report (if applicable) that shows any progress made since receiving the NCA Assessment Report;
4. Proof of English language proficiency, measured via one of the below methods:
   1. The language of instruction of the Applicant’s legal academic qualifications was English, and such qualifications were obtained in a country where English is an official language, or;
   2. Completion of the International English Language Test System (IELTS) Academic test, with a minimum score of 7.0 across all of the following elements: writing, speaking, reading and listening, and;
5. Your personal statement (maximum 750 words) stating who you are, your non-academic pursuits, your lived experiences, and three (3) reasons why you want to take the program;
6. Your resume.

Admission to the Program is competitive. Meeting the minimum requirements outlined above does not guarantee admission. Each year, 30-40 students will be granted admission. Decisions on applications and offers of admission to the FTLP are made by the Executive Director, Professor Wrightson. Offers are made on a rolling basis, so if the FTLP is for you, submit your application early.

To access the online application, an eID is required.

Current and former UCalgary students/applicants: Use your previous eID, which is typically firstname.lastname. If you forgot your password, find out how to reset it.

New applicants: you must create an eID before starting your application.

For help with creating an eID or with recovering a previous eID/password, please contact the UCalgary IT Support Centre.

Important dates:

Applications for the 2025-2026 cohort open January 6th, 2025.

Applications and supporting documents due for International Students on January 27, 2025. 

Applications and supporting documents due for Canadian citizens and Permanent Residents on June 15, 2025. 

Within a few days of submitting your application, you will receive a confirmation email with your student identification number (UCID). This email will go to your UCalgary email address if you already have one. If you don't see your email within a couple of days, check your spam folder, in case your email filtered the auto-generated email. It is the responsibility of the applicant to ensure your application is complete. Please note, incomplete applications cannot be evaluated. 

Rolling admissions

A form of rolling admissions is used, which means that some decisions are sent out before all the files have been read. Please note that this does not mean that your application will be necessarily read in the order it was submitted. Applications will start to be assessed as they become complete. This is one reason to have your application submitted and supporting documents in as early as possible. 

Due to the nature of the assessment process, there is no typical timeframe in which you will receive a decision after your application becomes complete. You may receive a decision very quickly, or you might receive a decision later in the admission cycle. 

All applicants will receive either an offer, regrets, or waitlist notification through your My UCalgary Student Centre no later than the middle of July.

Waitlist

There are no rankings assigned to those who are on the waitlist. The Executive Director will consider everyone on the waitlist to determine who will receive an offer at the time a spot becomes available. 

This means that we cannot estimate how long it will take for each waitlisted applicant to receive a final decision; waitlisted applicants may receive their final decision as late as early August. 

We want you to know that based on past experience, there are often changes to our class list throughout the application cycle. The final roster will likely include individuals whose application was waitlisted at some point.