Law Society announces changes to bar exam

On April 7, 2022, the Law Society of Ontario provided licensing candidates with an update concerning the 2022-2023 bar exam. As discussed below, the Law Society’s update contains two important changes that candidates should be aware of.

First, the Law Society announced that examinations will be conducted in-person rather than online. In 2020, the Law Society was forced to resort to online examinations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This practice of online examinations continued through 2020 and 2021. Recently, however, the Law Society announced that its April 2022 exams would be in-person. Now that the Law Society has announced that its next set of exams will also be in-person, it appears that in-person exams will (once again) be the norm moving forward. Candidates will be given the option to write the exam in one of five different cities across Ontario: London, Ottawa, Toronto, Thunder Bay, and Windsor.

Second, the Law Society moved its next set of exams from June to July. Specifically, the barrister exam will now be offered between July 5-8, 2022, whereas the solicitor exam will be held between July 19-22, 2022.

For candidates concerned with these recent changes, we note that the Law Society is scheduled to hold a Q & A session on May 9, 2022. According to the Law Society’s recent announcement, candidates will be able to register through a link sent to their online accounts. The webcast will also be recorded and available for on-demand viewing shortly after. In addition, we note that many law school career and professional development offices provide graduating students with a ton of helpful (and free) information concerning the Ontario bar exam process. Be sure to take advantage of these resources.