Foreign Tranined Lawyer in Judiciary

[Janit]

What is the trend/possibility for a foreign trained lawyer who practice family law in Ontario to get appointed as a judge?

Edited April 10 by Janit

[LMP]

There's nothing that would explicitly prevent a foreign trained lawyer from becoming a judge. But I have to imagine that it is fairly uncommon if for no other reason than because there might be less foreign trained candidates in the traditional pipelines. 

[BHC1]

Justice Aktar is the only foreign trained lawyer that I’m aware of on the bench in Ontario, but I think he practiced criminal law. 

[BlockedQuebecois]

Justice Aktar received his LLB from the University of London (although it’s not clear what member college he attended), was called to the Bar of England & Wales, and then practiced as a criminal barrister in London for nearly a decade.

After that, he worked for the Crown in the GTA for 16 years. 

That probably gives you a decent idea of the type of career and credentials one might need to become a Superior Court judge as a foreign trained lawyer. 

[Lawstudents20202020]

Absolutely no way to tell without knowing the specifics of someone's situation. If you a top litigator moving to Canada from the UK whose got a wealth of people saying you are the best of the best, I doubt the law degree of Oxford is going to hurt you.

If you are a Canadian that couldn't get into law school here, bought a degree from bond and continued to be unspectacular your entire career I would say the odds are not in your favor.

[BondGuy]

 A few things. 

First, I'd think by the time you're being appointed to the bench your school is window dressing for the rest of your resume.  As is the case with most other aspects of a legal career.  

Second, as I've alluded to before, one issue an NCA student faces early stages of your career is that your early career prospects are hampered by the NCA stigma. That will affect where you end up 20 years later. A Canadian trained grad will have an easier time getting to be a litigator on Bay Street (OCI-->Summer-->Articles-->etc.), making the big bucks, rubbing elbows with the right political folk.  As with most things NCA - the hard part is after the degree.

Third, I don't think we know yet. The NCA boom is more recent. Check this thread in about 15-20 years.