The Canadian Centre for Professional Legal Education (CPLED) is preparing for the June 1 launch of the Practice Readiness Education Program (PREP) the new Bar admission program for Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan. Before PREP officially launches students will need to register for the program.

Here are nine things you need to know about registering for PREP:

• Registration opens Tuesday, March 31 at 6:30 a.m. MST at www.cpled.ca – the entire registration process is completed online. Registration is completed on an individual basis so if firms are registering for their students, they will need to do so one student at a time.
• Admission Requirements – Proof of a Canadian common law degree or Certificate of Qualification from the Federation of Law Societies of Canada. Given the current situation around COVID-19 we understand that there may be a delay from Universities and the Federation with releasing official documentation. Students will be required to self-declare their degree and/or certificate completion date during the registration process and upload their documentation as soon as they have it. For more information about the accepted forms of documentation, visit admission requirements.
• Article – Students who have secured an articling position will need to include the details of their position (start date, name, and location of their firm as well as the name of their principal and contact information) when registering for PREP. Students who have not yet secured an articling position can register for phase one, the online Foundation Modules only. Once they have secured an article they will need to update their student profile with CPLED to include the details of their articling position. Students will have until September 25 to secure and commence articling to proceed to phase two, Foundation Workshops of PREP.
• Law Society membership – Students must register as a student member with one of CPLED’s participating law societies before September 25 to proceed to phase two, Foundation Workshops. PREP is the official bar admission program for Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Saskatchewan. Remember to verify Bar admission requirements with your law society before registering for a program.
• Program delivery – PREP consists of four distinct phases and is delivered both online and at face-to-face sessions. In the first phase of PREP, the Foundation Modules are self-directed online study and offer a flexible start date where students can choose to begin anytime between June 1 and 30. Phase two, Foundation Workshops are held at a 5-day in-person session hosted in the fall. Phase three, Virtual Law Firm takes the students back online where they will work through simulated client files from beginning to end. The Capstone, the final phase of PREP is a 4-day in-person assessment which will be held in the spring of 2021. For more details about program delivery, visit PREP.
• Face-to-face phases – CPLED has developed three schedules for phases two and four which are offered in Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Regina, Saskatoon and Winnipeg. During registration, students with secured articles will select their desired schedule, space permitting. Please note that when selecting schedule A for example for the Foundation Workshops students will automatically be registered in the corresponding schedule A for the Capstone. To review a detailed copy of the June 2020 intake schedule visit, program schedule.
• Payment information – PREP tuition fee payments can be made via online bill payment, EFT and wire transfer. Credit cards, cheques and e-Transfers are not accepted. Once registration has been completed individuals can print off a copy of their invoice and submit it to their firm’s accounting department for payment, if their firm is covering their tuition fees. As registration is completed on an individual basis, the invoice for tuition fees will also be on an individual basis. CPLED will not be able to combine invoices for students articling at the same firm, however, the firm can choose to make one payment and apply it to multiple invoices. For more details visit payment information.
• PREP launches Monday, June 1, 2020 – Students will only receive access to PREP materials, once they have completed the online registration checklist, their Procertas requirement and their tuition fee payment has been processed.
• Registration closes on Friday, June 26 – To allow students enough time to complete PREP registration for the June 2020 intake will close on Friday, June 26.

To stay up to date on the latest CPLED news, subscribe to the e-newsletter.