Articling Placement Program Update

The Law Society’s Articling Placement Program (the Program) assists articling students who are in unsafe or untenable articles due to harassment or discrimination. The Program supports articling students with exiting their current position and continuing their articles with a new firm/organization. The Program began as a pilot in February 2022 and was made permanent in February of this year. 

Since its inception, the Law Society has received 35 inquiries about the Program from articling students. Less than one-third of those that made inquiries met the criteria to enter the Program and almost every articling student that met the criteria was placed at a new firm/organization. 

The Program has proven to be a lifeline for the students that we have placed and those waiting to be placed. Students who have utilized the Program have expressed their gratitude for the Program’s existence and support during a time of crisis in their articles. Principals who have participated in the Program report feeling fulfilled and grateful for the opportunity to have helped future lawyers in need. 

The continued operation of the Program depends on roster firms and organizations partnering with us to accommodate students in need. Please consider leading by example and join the program roster.

Read the full update for more information on the usage and future of the Program.

Deadline Extended: Feedback Required on the Western Canada Competency Profile

Thank you to everyone who has provided feedback on the Western Canada Competency Profile (WCCP) so far. The deadline to take the survey has been extended to Monday, Dec. 18, to allow more time to provide your feedback on the draft WCCP. 

The purpose of the survey is for lawyers to rate the WCCP competencies and provide ACT, a third-party consultant facilitating this engagement, with further data to validate the competencies as those required for entry to legal practice. If you are currently in active practice or you have held active practising status in Alberta at some point within the past five years, you are eligible to participate. 

The survey takes about 25 minutes to complete and participation is voluntary. You will be asked to rate the components of the competency profile and answer a brief professional background questionnaire.  

For more information on the WCCP and the survey, visit our website. If you require technical assistance with the survey, contact ACT. If you have further questions about the WCCP or the survey content, contact Education. 

Best Practices When Issuing Trust Cheques

The Law Society’s Trust Safety Team would like to remind Alberta lawyers to adhere to best practices when using paper-based payments, and to be cognizant of the holding periods these forms of payment may be subject to at financial institutions.

Paper-based payment instruments such as cheques, certified cheques, money orders and bank drafts can be subject to forgery and fraud. They can also be returned due to insufficient funds, holds, restrictions on deposits or stop payments. As such, financial institutions have adopted strategies to minimize risks, which sometimes involve holding money until they can verify the funds.  

A financial institution may hold money from a deposited cheque to:  

• make sure that the person or company who wrote the cheque has enough money to cover it;  
• make sure that the person or company who wrote the cheque has not put a stop payment on it;
• check the details with the cheque writer to make sure that it has not been altered; or, 
• make sure that the account on which the cheque was written is still open.

We understand that a hold on a legitimate payment can cause potential issues with closings and lawyers’ undertakings, as it can take three to five business days to be validated, if not more. This holding process is the new standard and law firms must prioritize client management and set their clients’ expectations accordingly. When appropriate, lawyers should consider using electronic payment methods if they want to avoid holding periods.

The Law Society does not guarantee trust cheques because we do not know the financial position of the lawyers’ clients that made the deposits. Additionally, the Alberta Lawyers Indemnity Association Group Policy does not cover financial loss due to overdrafts or trust shortages.

For further details on cheque holding periods and access to funds for small- and medium-sized businesses, including consumer rights, visit the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada website. For information on the Canadian payments system, please visit the Payments Canada website.

If you have any questions regarding your trust accounts, please contact Trust Safety.

Court of King's Bench Announcements

Notice to the Profession & Public – Family Pre-Court Mandatory Requirements

Commencing Dec.18, 2023, the Court of King’s Bench will implement four mandatory pre-court requirements as part of the Alberta Justice Family Justice Strategy.

These mandatory requirements will only apply in Edmonton and Calgary. As more resources become available, it is anticipated that they will be expanded to Judicial Centres throughout the province. 

The four mandatory pre-court requirements are:

• completion of the online Parenting After Separation Course (PAS) (if applicable);
• meeting with a Family Court Counsellor (FCC) (for self-represented parties with dependent children);
• providing Financial Disclosure; and,
• participation in an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) process.

Read the full announcement for more details and exceptions to the mandatory requirements.

Further Expansion of the King's Bench Civil Digital Service (FDS) and Court Case Management Service (CCM)

The Court of King's Bench is pleased to announce the expansion of both the King’s Bench Filing Digital Service - Civil (FDS) and the Court Case Management Service (CCM). Effective Dec. 6, 2023, all CCM court document filing will be handled using FDS, with a wider array of documents now accepted through this service.

View the full announcement for more details.

Upcoming Events

Danger Assessment Training | Dec. 13, 2023

Family Lawyers and Shelter Workers Training: Improving Family Justice System Responses to Family Violence | Dec. 14, 2023

Visit our website for a full list of upcoming events.

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