The importance of bar exams

By Sam Goldstein ( September 30, 2025, 8:06 AM EDT) -- The Law Society of Ontario is considering dumping the bar exams. The committee’s purported reasons for proposing this include the fact that those with Canadian law degrees have a much higher pass rate than international graduates (88.27 per cent versus 57.78 per cent for the barrister, and 81.04 per cent versus 49.73 per cent for the solicitor), that the exam is stressful and that it requires quick recall of information. I think the opposite. In order to integrate lawyers from here and abroad, nurture a legal community and build trust in the public, we must double down on bar exams. Read on....