Continuing Professional Development Tool Now Available 

Alberta lawyers now have access to the new Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Tool through the Lawyer Portal. All lawyers who have an active status when the CPD planning period opens are required to submit an annual plan by Oct. 1. The only exception is lawyers who have the status of active – non-practising.

The new CPD Tool aligns with the Professional Development Profile (the Profile), which sets out the competencies the Law Society believes are important to maintain a safe, effective and sustainable legal practice in Alberta today.

While the CPD Tool is designed to be intuitive for lawyers, the Law Society has developed a User Guide along with FAQs and more information on the CPD website. Additionally, we are hosting an introductory webinar for the CPD Tool over the lunch hour on July 6. If you are unable to attend the webinar, a recording of the walkthrough of the new tool and Q&A will be made available following the event.

All lawyers, regardless of status, have access to the CPD Tool through the Lawyer Portal. We encourage all lawyers to try out the new Tool, and those lawyers who are required to submit a plan this year are encouraged to complete their plans well in advance of the Oct. 1 deadline.

If you have additional questions about completing your annual CPD plan, the CPD Tool or the Profile, please contact Education for support. 

Development of a Western Canada Competency Profile Underway

The Law Societies of Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba and Saskatchewan are jointly engaged in an initiative to identify and validate the competencies needed upon entry to legal practice. This initiative will result in the publication of a Western Canada Competency Profile (WCCP) that will help inform lawyer training and education, including bar admission program development efforts and experiential learning opportunities. This work aligns with our Strategic Plan and ongoing efforts towards enhancing lawyer competence in Alberta.

An Advisory Committee comprised of senior staff from each Law Society is overseeing the initiative alongside an appointed WCCP Task Force that is responsible for drafting and refining all elements of the profile. The Task Force is a diverse group made up of practitioners, educators, Benchers, articling supervisors and other key stakeholders from across the four provinces. Facilitated by a third-party consultant, ACT Inc., consultation in the form of focus groups is now underway with key stakeholder groups to collect initial feedback on the first draft of the WCCP.

The finalized profile is expected to be published in the spring of 2024.

For more information about the WCCP and the process for its development, contact Education.

Black Lawyers' Experiences in Canada Survey

The Canadian Association of Black Lawyers (CABL) is launching a first-of-its-kind study to examine the experiences of Black lawyers in Canada.

CABL is interested in understanding the work experiences, career paths, opportunities and challenges encountered by Black lawyers in Canada, with a particular interest in experiences with medium or large national, regional, boutique or corporate law firms. Medium firms are defined as having 20 to 30 lawyers and large firms as having more than 30 lawyers.

The survey takes approximately 20 minutes to complete. 

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