Students apply for upper-year admission if they are enrolled in a common law LLB or JD degree at another law school in Canada or outside Canada, or have completed a law degree in a foreign jurisdiction.

The number of openings in each upper-year category is dependent on the internal attrition rates at the law school. Usually the number of places available in each category cannot be known precisely until late June when the Faculty ascertains how many of its students seek to study elsewhere, how many are taking an approved leave, and how many are returning to study. The number of places is never large and occasionally there are no places at all. In particular, there have been very few openings for the admission of NCA applicants. Typically the Admissions Office receives many more applications from candidates that meet the minimum standards than there are places available. All upper-year applicants are required to have both a sound academic record and good personal or academic reasons for wanting to study at the Faculty of Law of Queen’s University.

Provided that the application is competitive on academic factors, priority will be given to the admission of transfer or Letter of Permission applicants who seek to return to their home province from a Canadian law school outside Ontario and to applicants seeking to transfer between Ontario law schools. Curriculum-related grounds and career path reasons supporting the application will be considered. Consideration will be given to compelling compassionate or personal grounds supporting the application.