Welcome Deanna Steblyk and Ken Warren, QC as Law Society of Alberta Benchers

Deanna Steblyk and Ken Warren, QC have joined the Board to fill the vacancies created by the judicial appointments of the Honourable Judge Sandra Corbett and the Honourable Judge Karen Hewitt to the Provincial Court of Alberta.

Ms. Steblyk works in the Office of the Vice-Chairs at the Alberta Securities Commission, where she assists Commission adjudicators with legal research, preparation of oral and written decisions, and policy matters. 

She is Chair of the Legal Aid Alberta Board of Directors, serves on the Board of Directors of the Calgary Humane Society, is past President of the Association of Women Lawyers and past Chair of the CBA Alberta’s Civil Litigation subsection (South). She is a regular guest instructor at the University of Calgary Faculty of Law and has served on several Law Society committees.

Mr. Warren is a Partner at Gowling WLG, where he practises in the area of commercial dispute resolution with a focus on shareholder disputes, professional liability defence, executive employment law and mediation. Mr. Warren served as the managing partner of Gowling WLG’s Calgary office for nine years and stepped down in 2016.

He was on the Board of the Calgary Urban Project Society from 2010 – 2017, has served on numerous Law Society committees since 1993, and has regularly lectured in the CPLED program.

For more information on the Board, please visit our website .

Attention Responsible Lawyers: What You Need to Know About Trust Shortages and Reporting

When a Responsible Lawyer becomes aware of a trust shortage, the Responsible Lawyer is required to immediately report it to the Law Society. Here is an example of a trust shortage:

Client A gives you $10,000 in trust. Client B gives you $21,000 in trust and Client C gives you $18,000. If these are the only three clients, you now have $49,000 in trust. Client B asks you to make a payment out of trust in the amount of $25,000 and you do so. By doing this, you have now created a shortage under Client B’s trust ledger in the amount of $4,000. Why? Because Client B only had $21,000, yet you paid out $25,000. So, even though you still have a positive balance in your trust account of $24,000 ($49,000 - $25,000 = $24,000), it is considered a shortage because Client B did not have enough funds to make the payment and you ended up using some of Client A and Client C’s funds towards Client B’s payment.

To report a trust shortage, complete the Trust Account and Client Ledger Shortage Form. For information on next steps, read more.

Notice - Alberta Justice and Solicitor General

Starting on September 18, 2018, defence counsel registered for e-disclosure will be able to access bail packages for the purposes of first appearance Justice of the Peace bail hearings through the  Bail Request Page (BRP).  

To access the bail package for the Justice of the Peace bail hearing, please email the Crown Bail Office to indicate you are counsel of record and to obtain the JOIN docket number for the file. You may then go to the Bail Request Page to download a copy of the bail package using the JOIN docket number and to see information about the status of the file.

Defence counsel not registered for e-disclosure may continue to request the bail package from the Crown Bail Office.