NCA candidate losing steam!

[Delle]

I'm 23, an NCA candidate and working full time as a Law Clerk. The firm is great and they have offered to let me article there. I'm also not a Canadian, so although I am aware I experience some disadvantage with my foreign degree, I also didn't have a choice in this matter as I moved here during the pandemic. 

I'm halfway through the NCAs, I don't find them hard but it is repetitive working full time in law and coming home to more law. Essentially, I'm at the point now where I'm questioning if I even want to do this any more. At the same time, the thought of NOT qualifying scares me because with how expensive Ontario is getting in, I really want to achieve a decent level of post-grad education. 

I guess I just need some advice from actual lawyers. Do you get disillusioned with law? Did you ever want to pack it in BEFORE qualification? If I'm already feeling like this, is it worth doing the Bar plus articling? Is it worth qualifying even if I sometimes question even if I want to practice? 

My parents want me to finish and qualify as even if I don't practice, "you will always have that qualification" and they believe it will help me pivot to other industries or secure my feature with the higher level of education. They think I should just suck it up and finish this off. 

Most posts I find online are for people pre law school. I can't really find any advice for people who have lost steam 2/3 of the way through... 

I'm not lazy, I work hard and I study hard. I'm just burnt out, it's constant law law law and I need some perspective. 

Thank you. 

[123]

8 minutes ago, Delle said:

Is it worth qualifying even if I sometimes question even if I want to practice?

8 minutes ago, Delle said:

At the same time, the thought of NOT qualifying scares me because with how expensive Ontario is getting in, I really want to achieve a decent level of post-grad education. 

What are you questioning, exactly? Aside from financial security, do you want to be a lawyer? As in, does the work appeal to you? Because while it’s true that you can treat law like a job — it doesn’t need to be a passion project for everyone — you will actually have to do the job. And honestly, practicing law would be a pain if you’re just punching the clock for a pay cheque. You have to deal with clients, billable hours, and professional obligations. That’s not to say that other jobs don’t have irritants and business pressures. But lawyering is stressful, and I wouldn’t do it if I didn’t want to be a lawyer. I can’t tell from your post that you want to be a lawyer. If I were you, I’d want to figure that out before I went much further. 

[Hegdis]

Finish your qualifications. At this late stage, finish. Your parents are right to the degree that otherwise you have wasted years of your life just to not have the ability to practise law. 

And you haven’t even given it a shot yet. You haven’t spent a single day of your life as a lawyer.

 I hate to tell you this but this thread topic isn’t going to help you. Some of us love it. Some of us hate it. Some would do it again. Some would run far away screaming. Some think it a a safe comfortable middle ground to hold while they look for happiness and satisfaction in other parts of their lives. Some think it’s a slog that isn’t worth it. Some can’t imagine doing anything else. 
 

Try it. Then you’ll know. 

[Dood]

The NCA exams are a grind, but you can do it. I took them last year while working full time also. You’ll probably score higher while working full time anyways than you would if you had nothing else to do rn. Things are weird like that. Also, it’s normal to question everything when you’re in the middle of the fray. But I say - keep hustling💪 

[CheeseToast]

Spend a couple weeks on the shovel, should get your head right

[Iwias]

23 years old and already going through NCA and working as a clerk? I wish I would have been so keen at your age!

NCAs is just the first climb of an entire mountain range. You can definitely do it, and have transferable skills that can help you when you transition into articles.

 

[OluAYI]

On 1/30/2023 at 8:49 PM, Dood said:

The NCA exams are a grind, but you can do it. I took them last year while working full time also. You’ll probably score higher while working full time anyways than you would if you had nothing else to do rn. Things are weird like that. Also, it’s normal to question everything when you’re in the middle of the fray. But I say - keep hustling💪 

Thanks for your encouragement yo the post above.

 

Please are there resources that would help ace these NCA exams 🙏.  I am expecting my NCA report in less than 10 days according to them. What do I need to get setup. 

[bluejay]

I also moved to Canada during the pandemic and had to go through the NCA process to have my foreign law qualifications recognized in Canada. I recently completed 10 NCA exams in the course of a year, all while working for a law firm (albeit not in a 'lawyer' capacity). The frustrating thing about the exams is that you don't get a grade, just a pass. That pass could be 90% or it could be 51%, you just don't know. You only get a grade if you fail.

During my final NCA exam (Foundations of Canadian Law), I absolutely messed up one question. I realized afterwards that I went down the wrong track completely. The question was worth 20% of the total marks. If I'm lucky, I got 1 or 2 marks for that question. But I still passed (again, I have no idea how comfortably). The NCAs are frustrating and time consuming, but I believe that they are absolutely achievable for most students with legal experience, with a moderate time commitment. With hindsight, I would have spent far less time on study than I did and enjoyed my life a little more during that year, with the exception of Foundations of Canadian Law as that is a crapshoot in terms of what they can ask and does require full attention. 

I don't know how many exams you have been assigned under the NCA process, but my guess is that it is no more than a 1 year commitment. If you are half way through, could you live with the 'what if's if you quit now because you are going through a rough spot?

That being said, if you are feeling jaded because it is all 'law law law' in your life, then I suggest there is a much bigger question that you need to address. It may be a case that you simply haven't found the area of law that you really enjoy. I absolutely love my area of law, but would dread spending my whole career in certain other areas of law. One of the benefits of the NCA exams, for foreign-trained lawyers, is that you get to revisit many core subjects. For example, I discovered that I really enjoyed administrative law (I know...I'm weird!) whereas I hated it during law school in my home country. The next NCA course may spark a new interest for you.