Congratulations to Madam Justice Nancy M. Carruthers, former Law Society General Counsel and Director, Regulation, who was appointed to the Court of Queen’s Bench on April 20, 2022.

Justice Carruthers joined the Law Society in 2005 as a Practice Advisor. She served in this role for over a decade impacting the lives of thousands of lawyers with her calm nature and steady counsel.

In 2015, Justice Carruthers was seconded to the role of Tribunal Counsel to establish the Tribunal Office and a new adjudicator training program. She then became the Manager of Policy & Ethics in November 2017 and was promoted to Senior Manager in 2019. In October 2020, she moved into the role of General Counsel and Director, Regulation.

Justice Carruthers has been instrumental in supporting many Law Society policy initiatives and rule changes, authoring numerous educational resources for lawyers and delivering countless presentations to legal organizations, law firms and law schools. Throughout her career at the Law Society, she was a key participant in our Code of Conduct work and was a valuable member of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada’s Standing Committee on the Model Code.

“Nancy’s departure from the Law Society is both a professional and personal loss to us,” said Elizabeth J. Osler, QC, Chief Executive Officer & Executive Director. “With her incredible institutional knowledge, she was the go-to person for many of us and was a cheerleader to all of us. She was always quick to acknowledge the efforts of others and was uncomfortable to recognize her own. With this appointment, she cannot deny the important impact she has had as a lawyer on her profession to reach this significant milestone. We send her on her way with our warmest wishes and deepest regard.”

We would also like to congratulate Justice Bob H. Aloneissi and Justice Michael A. Marion who were also appointed to the Court of Queen’s Bench.

In bestowing the Alumni Honour Award upon Justice Aloneissi in 2016, the University of Alberta recognized his ability to build bridges in the community through his involvement in restorative justice programs, the Phoenix Multifaith Society for Harmony, and the Crown – Defence Right to Play Charity Hockey Game, which has raised $100,000. for Indigenous Youth Programs. Justice Aloneissi was also a founding member of the Criminal Trial Lawyers’ Association Committee to Reduce Indigenous Incarceration.

For more than 22 years of private practice, Justice Marion had a diverse commercial litigation and administrative law advocacy practice, including commercial, energy, municipal, expropriation, environmental, land, insolvency, appellate, arbitration, and constitutional matters. He has appeared before administrative tribunals and courts in several jurisdictions, including the Supreme Court of Canada. He has written and published extensively on legal matters relevant to commercial disputes, including in several legal journals.

For more information, read the Government of Canada Department of Justice’s news release.

The Law Society is working on a new approach to continuing professional development (CPD) for Alberta lawyers that is more self-directed and provides guidance around the professional competencies that are relevant for legal practice in Alberta today.

Two key pieces of work essential to the new CPD approach include the development of a new Professional Development Profile for Alberta lawyers (the Profile) and a CPD planning tool. While the CPD planning tool will not be available until 2023, the Benchers approved the new Profile at the April Board meeting, and we are currently working to finalize it along with supplementary educational materials.

Although the CPD filing requirement was lifted for an additional year until 2023, CPD activities remain crucial for lawyers in fulfilling their Code of Conduct obligations respecting competent legal service delivery. Lawyers are encouraged to develop an annual CPD plan, whether on their own or by using the existing CPD planning tool through the Lawyer Portal, which continues to be available to track and declare professional development activities.

The new Profile will be available ahead of the CPD planning tool, so lawyers have ample time to become familiar with it before the annual filing requirement resumes. The Profile outlines nine competency areas that the Law Society sees as being relevant to effective legal practice today.

The Profile was designed to have broad application to various practice settings and some content will not be applicable to all lawyers. The Profile is not intended to be a checklist and lawyers are not required to demonstrate competency in every area of the Profile each year. It is meant to provide guidance when lawyers are selecting areas for professional development that are meaningful to them and their practice.

Taking the time to schedule professional development benefits you as a lawyer, your law firm or organization and your clients. To learn more, read our frequently asked questions and stay tuned as more information will be provided on how to use the Profile as it is rolled out in the coming months.

If you have questions about the Law Society’s new approach to CPD, please contact our Education department.

The Law Society launched the Indigenous Cultural Competency Education requirement called The Path (Law Society of Alberta) – Your Journey Through Indigenous Canada for all Alberta lawyers on April 21, 2021. Alberta lawyers have until Thursday, Oct.20. 2022 (18 months) to complete the course or certify eligibility for an exemption.

For those lawyers who became active or changed to active status following the launch date, the 18-month timeline is effective from the date the lawyer becomes active. Lawyers can find their due date for completing the mandatory education requirement in their Lawyer Portal.

If intending on filing an exemption, lawyers are encouraged to do so before Aug. 31, to allow enough time for the exemption review process (see FAQ).

To date, approximately 2,400 lawyers have completed The Path (Law Society of Alberta) with about another 1,300 currently enrolled. Of those lawyers who have taken the course so far, 93 per cent have given it an overall rating of good, very good or excellent. Also, 90 per cent strongly agreed or agreed that it increased their knowledge and understanding of Indigenous cultural awareness.

Visit the website for more information on how to take the course.

After each Bencher election, the Law Society looks to improve the election processes and to ensure integrity and efficiency for the next election. As the 2020 Bencher election was done completely online for the first time, the Law Society undertook a review of the election processes and recommended rule changes to improve how the 2023 election will be conducted.

As set out in Section 14 of the Legal Profession Act (the Act), the Benchers may make rules governing elections on a broad range of matters, including the procedure and eligibility requirements for the nomination of candidates, eligibility for voting, dividing Alberta into election districts and the procedure for conducting the election generally. Currently, Rules 7-17 of the Rules of the Law Society of Alberta (the Rules) set out the details of how an election is to be conducted.

As the Rules were originally drafted to give effect to a paper-based election process, they needed to be rewritten to be consistent with an online election process. The Rules currently do not provide specific dates or timelines for the various steps in the election process, including the period for nominating candidates, the date to determine voting eligibility and the date by which voting information must be provided to eligible voters.

An online election process allows for some of the election process steps to be completed in a shorter time frame, with the Rules setting out specific timing for the various steps. Creating Rules to include specific timelines for key election processes provides clarity and certainty for the Law Society and the profession.

Highlights of the key Rule changes can be found on the Law Society website.