About Us
The Canadian Centre for Professional Legal Education (CPLED, “see-pled”) is a non-profit organization that provides programs for aspiring lawyers on their pre-Bar call journey. Our flagship program, the Practice Readiness Education Program (PREP) is the Bar admission program for Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Nunavut, and British Columbia (September 2026). In addition to PREP, we offer programs designed for internationally trained lawyers completing their Certificate of Qualification (CQ) through the National Committee on Accreditation (NCA).
Our Mission
CPLED develops and delivers innovative, experiential pre-call legal education in Canada through programs, services, and support to build the competencies of new lawyers.
Our Vision
We empower individuals to become competent lawyers.
Our Values
We are guided by excellence, integrity, collaboration, diversity, and adaptability.
Key Success Factors
Our success is driven by a best-in-class Bar admission program, a strong reputation, strategic alliances, and the development of new products and services.
The History of
CPLED
The Canadian Centre for Professional Legal Education was founded as a non-profit organization on March 26, 2004, by Canada’s prairie law societies to develop a shared Bar admission education program to train and assess new lawyers entering the profession. The participating provincial regulators agreed they could build a better training program by working together than they could on their own.
The first version was launched in 2004, and each law society managed the delivery of the program in its jurisdiction. In 2016, the participating law societies conducted an external review of the program to see where improvements and updates could be made.
In 2018, CPLED began an exciting journey to develop and deliver an innovative and experiential legal education program focused on competency-based skills for newly admitted lawyers.
Building Competence for
Today’s Legal Practice
Lawyers face many challenges related to professionalism, ethical behaviour, communication skills and client management. CPLED was mandated to teach students the skills needed to succeed in practice. New lawyers require more than knowledge of the law; they must demonstrate multiple competencies and qualities that take a holistic look at the key elements needed to successfully practice law in Canada. CPLED updated its Competency Framework to develop its new Bar admission program.
Creating the
Practice Readiness Education Program (PREP)
With the new Competency Framework, the CPLED CEO began the project to overhaul the Bar admission program and create the Practice Readiness Education Program (PREP). PREP was built on best practices to deliver practical skills and competencies in a consistent, integrated approach that combines interactive, transactional learning and simulation for its students. The program was piloted in 2019 and launched in 2020.
The Expansion of
PREP
In September 2019, the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society decided to implement PREP as the new Bar admission program within their jurisdiction. PREP launched in four participating jurisdictions in June 2020 to approximately 800 students.
Since 2020, PREP has been the approved Bar admission program for admission in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, and Nunavut.
In September 2026, the Law Society of British Columbia will adopt PREP as their Bar admission program, replacing their Professional Legal Training Course (PLTC), which has run since 1984. CPLED anticipates exponential growth with LSBC candidates enrolling in PREP, as we move towards competency-based legal training.