Real estate law is a promising field to work in. By pursuing a real estate law career, you can assist citizens with property-related legal issues. And you become a successful real estate lawyer when you can adeptly help people in real estate legal proceedings.
Now, you must be wondering how to become a real estate lawyer in Canada. Keep reading to know everything you need to do to be a lawyer.
Contents
How To Become A Real Estate Lawyer In Canada: 6 Steps
In order to reach the point where you can start giving legal advice, you must first complete a few other steps. Referring to that, becoming a real estate lawyer requires the successful completion of 6 main steps. Find out about them one by one in the following sections.
Step 1: Earn a Bachelor’s Degree
If you want to be a real estate lawyer, you need to complete a bachelor’s degree in law at first. Typically, bachelor’s degree programs are 4 years long. So, the duration is the same for a law degree. In addition, you won’t have to pick a particular major in order to gain a bachelor’s degree in law.
But to get yourself admitted to a law school, you must join a pre-law degree program. There you will achieve the required skills, such as – oral, analytical, and communication skills.
Step 2: Sit for Law School Admission Test (LSAT)
Any law school endorsed by Canadian Bar Association will ask you to sit for the LSAT. Sadly, you can’t join a law school if you don’t take the test. The test is a half-day examination. There will be questions to determine your reading and verbal skills in the test.
Step 3: Take a Juris Doctor degree
Generally, you can complete a law degree within 3-4 years of full-time study. That time setting won’t be suitable for all. I mean, there are people who are already involved in jobs. In that case, you will have an option for a part-time law program instead. Not to mention, a half-day law program will take longer to finish.
Let’s see what kind of courses you will be studying in a law program. In the first year, you will be dealing with fundamental and professional subjects, like – legal writing, civil procedures, and tort laws. In the second and third years, you will have to take elective courses, i.e., civil rights cases, administrative law, and energy law. Finally, at the end of the degree, you can complete an internship.
Step 4: Pass the Bar Examination
Most states impose that you must pass the bar exam if you want to be a real estate lawyer. The format of the bar exam will differ. Nevertheless, there is some general similarity. Anyway, you will need to answer essays and multiple-choice questions. On top of that, many states include 6 hours of Multistate Bar Examination (MBE).
Moreover, there could be an ethical examination which is called the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination (MPRE). Furthermore, you might have to sit for a local bar exam. And the other bar exam integrates a multistate essay examination and multistate performance test for assessing the practical skills of an entry-level lawyer.
Step 5: Start Practicing as a Real Estate Lawyer
Up until now, you will be preparing yourself to start working as a real estate lawyer. And, you can now help people with a lawful transaction of property.
However, you have to count it as another step because this is the stage where you start gaining practical experience as a real estate lawyer. Keeping that in mind, you can start practicing in the field of laws. Often private law firms only allow practicing real estate laws. Also, most of the time, you will need to have at least 2 years and a maximum of 5 years of experience.
Step 6: Earn More Certificates and Keep Learning
Many practicing lawyers opt for pursuing higher studies or simply more degrees. In that case, you can next go for a Master’s degree. There are law programs for this stage of your lawyer journey, e.g., commercial real estate, real estate finance, and real estate in federal tax law. There will be an elective course too. That will include- construction law, affordable housing, real estate litigation, and historic preservation. You will be happy to know that some law school even provide opportunities for working in law firms that focuses on real estate law.
Is Real Estate Law a Good Career?
I have already mentioned at the very beginning that real estate law is one of the good career paths. And there are a couple of reasons behind that. For instance, if you didn’t know already, the average earning of a real estate lawyer is sizeable.
On top of that, there is an advantage of working independently. That is, you only will represent your clients in court, but that will not require a real estate lawyer to present a case to a judge or jury.
Can you Take a Real Estate Lawyer Degree Online?
Yes, you can earn a real estate law degree online. There are plenty of law schools in Canada that offer real estate lawyer courses via distance learning. However, upon fulfilling a degree or course online, you have to accomplish the rest of the stages as well.
5 Skills Required for a Real estate lawyer
Chiefly, there are two kinds of skill sets, which are – soft skills and hard skills. Your innate communication abilities and various types of reasoning are considered soft skills. On the flip side, the hard skills mean – legal terminology and concepts that you have learned during your study time. However, learn about the 5 skills that you must have as a real estate lawyer below.
Communication skills
This skill is the first thing you must have to become a real estate lawyer. Because without good verbal communication skills, you won’t be able to develop a relationship with your clients. Most importantly, this skill is critical in terms of elaborating unfamiliar concepts to your clients and finally filing their cases in court. Also, you must have excellent written communication skills. That can help you prepare legal documents, contracts, and memos for a property deal.
Negotiation skills
As a real estate lawyer, you will be negotiating a lot with clients and opposite parties of your clients. Without this skill, you can’t help your clients win a case or persuade all parties to agree to a particular contract.
Social skills
These particular sets of skills will allow you to ensure that your clients believe you can help them. These skills are also known as interpersonal skills.
Analytical skills
You will need to go through a pile of information thoroughly. After that, you need to assess those to determine if there is anything illegitimate.
Investigative skill
Real estate lawyers need to carry out deep research on properties. Otherwise, you will fail to find all the essential details of properties while handling a case.
Final remarks
There you have the 6 major stages for becoming a lawyer. Once you become a real estate lawyer, it results in more career and life opportunities. Yet, it is fairly tough to participate in this highly competitive industry. However, this is not to discourage you. Remember that there is a high demand for real estate lawyers. If you work hard, it will surely pay off.
FAQ
In case you have more queries, look at the questions below. They will provide you with extra information.
How much money do real estate lawyers make?
In Canada, real estate lawyers make an average of $130k per year. That includes lawyers from all experience levels. Considering that, the entry-level positions obtain around $95k per year. On the other hand, the most experienced lawyers earn up to $160k per year.
How much do top real estate lawyers make?
Top real estate lawyers in Canada can earn as high as $160k every year. Sometimes that amount exceeds. In addition, the least a highly paid lawyer in Canada makes is around $146k. It’s worth noting that the pay will vary depending on several factors
Do real estate lawyers go to court?
Real estate lawyers are there to help you sort out any issue relating to property selling, buying, and lending. So, they will represent you in court when there is a real estate fraud. When they are presenting you at the courthouse is the only time they go to court.
What is the highest-paid lawyer?
Among the highest-paid lawyers in Canada, medical lawyers are at the top of the list. Their charge could be as much as $160,000. Furthermore, the amount can exceed. Nonetheless, a medical lawyer’s average annual salary in Canada is around $158,000.
What do real estate lawyers do?
A real estate lawyer can assist you in preparing all of the necessary documents for a property-related sale, purchase, or loan. They also go over the paper you’ll sign at the end of a real estate transaction. Finally, they can represent your interests in the court.
How long to become a real estate lawyer?
The entire process will take up to 8 years to become a real estate lawyer. You must first complete a four-year bachelor’s degree. After that, you can enroll in a 3 to 4-year law school. So, that forms almost a 7 to 8 years of journey to establish yourself as a real estate lawyer.