New Legal Aid Governance Agreement; Trust Safety Rule Amendments; Join the Conversation about Part-Time Fees

October 11, 2018

New Legal Aid Governance Agreement

Earlier today an announcement was made regarding the successful negotiation of a new Legal Aid Governance Agreement. View our media statement.

September 2018 Board Meeting Update

As part of our commitment to open and timely communication, we will be sharing highlights from each Board meeting. Watch our first Board Recap Video.

Apply to Serve on a 2019 Law Society of Alberta Committee

Committee volunteer work is offered to lawyers who work in law firms and other practice settings. This diversity of perspectives plays an important role in helping us achieve our mission of serving the public interest by promoting a high standard of legal services and professional conduct.

Read more and apply...

Trust Safety Rule Amendments

The Board (also known as Benchers) approved changes to the Rules of the Law Society of Alberta (119.30 and 119.33) to clarify the financial reporting obligations of lawyers who operate trust accounts. These changes provide that:

Lawyers must disclose their complete trust accounting records, including clients’ names and matter descriptions. This obligation applies to regular financial reporting as well as examinations, reviews, audits or investigations.
Privileged information will not be used for any purpose other than to monitor and enforce compliance with the accounting rules or for conduct proceedings. The disclosure of client records does not create a waiver of privilege.
The annual self-report form includes an authorization for the Law Society to collect financial and banking information directly from a firm’s financial institution as part of regular monitoring. The amendments give the Executive Director the authority to include this request in the self-report form as opposed to having lawyers complete a separate form.

The changes remind lawyers of their reporting obligations and duties of disclosure, and confirm the safety of client records in the possession of the Law Society.

If you have any questions about these amendments, please contact our Trust Safety Department.

Join the Conversation About Part-time Membership Fees

Over the years, Alberta lawyers have expressed an interest in a part-time fee option. We want to open the conversation to all Alberta lawyers and students.

We encourage you to visit our engagement website to learn more and fill out a 10 minute survey. The information gathered from the survey will help inform any decisions about potential part-time membership fees. As a token of our appreciation for your time and feedback, you can enter a draw at the end of the survey to win a complimentary LESA course of your choice (excludes multi-day programs).

We want to hear from you. The survey will be available until Wednesday, October 31, 2018.

Obligations of Notaries and Commissioners

On September 7, 2018, the Court of Queen’s Bench issued a reminder that Alberta lawyers should not notarize or commission documents presented by Organized Pseudolegal Commercial Argument (OPCA) litigants.

In Potvin (Re), 2018 ABQB 652, Associate Chief Justice Rooke issued a vexatious litigant order against Mr. Potvin, who had been trying to thwart a foreclosure using OPCA strategies. These litigants engage in arguments which Associate Chief Justice Rooke described as ideas that “sound like law and use legal terminology and references, but which are universally rejected by Canadian courts”. Vexatious litigant orders prevent parties from filing further materials with the Alberta courts, unless they obtain the Court’s permission. The Court’s decision may be found here.