NCA Graduate Interview Series: Liran Kandin

 

NCA Graduate Interview Series: Liran Kandin

"There's nothing more comforting than someone who actually gets it. Really gets it. Because they've been to the same hell as you have and can verify you've not made it up." (Holly Bourne)

While the NCA process isn't exactly "hell," it can certainly be isolating, lonely, and challenging. Whether you are contemplating law school abroad and wondering about the obstacles upon your return to Canada or are already facing the NCA process, gaining insights from other internationally trained law students who have successfully completed the NCAs and/or fully qualified in Canada can be immensely helpful.

Over the next few weeks, we'll be presenting a mini-interview series aimed at offering you insights into the various ways NCA candidates approach their Canadian qualification and where their journeys lead them. We've carefully selected NCA graduates who have pursued diverse NCA completion routes and diverse careers, both before and after sitting the Bar. Our hope is that you'll find their experiences and perspectives enlightening, encouraging, and motivating.

This week, we start with our very own Liran Kandin — CEO & Executive Director of NCA Tutor™.

1. Where did you go to Law School and what kind of program did you complete (e.g. 3yr LL.B, 2yr LL.B, etc.)? I attended law school in the UK. Initially, I applied to five universities and was accepted to all of them. After considering the "redbrick" universities, my top two choices were the University of Manchester and the University of Liverpool. Although Liverpool offered a rare two-year accelerated program, the NCA advised against it at that time (in 2007) due to reforming policies and uncertainty about how a two-year LLB would factor into my assessment. Consequently, I chose the three-year LLB at the University of Manchester, which seemed a better option. Nowadays, a two-year LLB program is more common in the UK, and the NCA has come to accept these degrees. If all other criteria are met, a 2-year LLB degree simply adds an additional two exams to your assessment.

After qualifying in both New York and, a year later, in Ontario, I applied to the Master of Laws program at the University of Toronto. Fortunately, I received a scholarship that greatly exceeded my tuition fees, making it an offer I couldn't refuse. I left private practice in New York to pursue my Masters with a specialization in Business Law. My experience at UofT was fantastic, and it influenced my interest in teaching and my appreciation for constitutional law. I had an incredibly supportive thesis advisor, and we even co-authored an article in the Toronto Star together. Most courses in the program were third-year JD courses, with many taught by practitioners and two by judges. The LLM served as a stepping stone into academia, but I did not undertake it to fulfill NCA requirements. Instead, I saw it as an opportunity to specialize in a specific area of law, enhance my writing skills, and publish academic work.

• How many NCA Exams were you assigned? I was assigned the five core NCA modules: Foundations of Canadian Law, Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Criminal Law, and Professional Responsibility.
• How did you complete the NCA process and how long did it take you? When I returned, there wasn't a comprehensive NCA process in place. For instance, the administrative law syllabus was almost non-existent, with a reference to a textbook and a directive to read it entirely. Resources were scarce, and there was only one tutor available for criminal law. To address this, I prepared notes for the five core subjects and shared them freely with over 3,500 NCA candidates. Through multiple revisions, I kept updating the notes to reflect new textbook readings and cases. I completed my NCA process relatively quickly, writing three exams in the first sitting and two in the final one, across two consecutive exam sessions.
• What are you doing now? Presently, I am the CEO & Executive Director of Lex Professional Development Group Inc., a legal education company with two distinct divisions. LexPD offers continuing professional development courses to licensed Canadian practitioners, tutoring services for Ontario bar licensing candidates, and consulting services. NCA Tutor™, a part of LexPD, provides coaching, mentoring, tutoring, and notes to foreign-trained lawyers. Over the last 8 years, we've worked with more than 1900 candidates from over 55 countries, and we take pride in fostering genuine relationships with our students, emphasizing honesty, transparency, and integrity. Apart from my work with LexPD and NCA Tutor, I also work as a business consultant for other companies, engage in public speaking events, and serve as a board member for a publicly traded company. Most importantly, I am a full-time husband to my wife, Léa, and a father to two wonderful daughters.
• What is something critical you learned through the NCA process? The NCA process revealed to me that teaching was an effective way for me to learn and absorb information rapidly. When I studied for my NCAs, I formed study groups with Canadian friends who had also attended the University of Manchester. As we had already studied together during law school, it was natural for us to continue in study groups for the NCAs. During these sessions, I summarized the materials and taught them to my friends. This approach served as a win-win situation: I learned by teaching, and my friends studied effectively. This is where the idea for NCA Tutor™ originated, as my friends invited others, and our community grew from there.
• In hindsight, would you do anything differently? Looking back, I wish I had written all my exams in one sitting instead of spreading them across two. Initially, I was concerned that attempting five exams in one sitting would be overwhelming. However, in retrospect, the exams weren't as intimidating as I thought. Having already completed a demanding undergraduate business degree at the University of Toronto and gone through three years of law school, I had the preparation and knowledge. Moreover, the NCA's passing grade is 50% or above. If I had taken all exams together, I could have completed the entire process in just a couple of months. Though splitting up the exams didn't drastically impact my life, at that time, those extra months felt crucial. I was moving to New York and preparing for the New York bar exam, and I could've used the additional time to search for jobs and better prepare.

That concludes our interview for this week! Join us next time for more insights from recent NCA graduates!

- Tiffany Sillanpää