Save the Date

Don't miss CPD launch at Plenary March 13, 2008

The Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program will be unveiled at the LSA's plenary session at the Alberta Law Conference. The March 13, 2008 morning event will be held in Calgary at the Westin Hotel. The unveiling will show how lawyers can develop their annual CPD plans online in order to comply with the March 2009 reporting date.

2008 DSA Presentation March 14, 2008

The 2008 Distinguished Service Awards will be presented at the Alberta Law Conference, Westin Hotel, Calgary on March 14, 2008 at noon. Presented jointly by the LSA and CBA Alberta, these annual awards celebrate excellence in the legal profession.

2008 Media and Law Seminar May 23, 2008

The upcoming Media and Law Seminar will be held Friday, May 23, 2008 at the Lister Centre, University of Alberta in Edmonton. This forum brings together the media, judiciary and legal profession to discuss topical issues. More details will follow.

Demand vs Supply Imbalance

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spoke about a shifting landscape, particularly the social implications of demographic and economic trends in Alberta. Changes we can expect include:

Communities of people becoming segregated along socio-economic and ethnocultural lines, i.e. into ethnic neighborhoods;
a shrinking middle class and increased polarization of the population into rich and poor; and
increased social exclusion, particularly among immigrant and aboriginal youth.

At a joint meeting of the Alberta and Saskatchewan benchers last fall, I spoke about the changing demographics of the legal profession and how it affects access to legal services. Although there is no specific data, the indications are that:

the supply of lawyers for the middle class has been reduced over time, as more lawyers practice in big corporate firms and government and corporations;
complexity has increased the hours of legal services needed for each transaction; and
junior lawyers are going to large firms in major cities.

Law school output is approximately 2,700 graduates per year, almost unchanged

since the 1970s. Women make up approximately one-half of graduates, and have a higher attrition rate from private practice. The number of lawyers in government and in-house counsel positions has grown much faster than the rest of the profession.

An exit survey of inactive/retired lawyers, presented by Greg Francis, LSA Equity Ombudsperson, found that 43% of the respondents cited dissatisfaction with the practice of law and with place of employment. Approximately 41% found more rewarding opportunities elsewhere.

A growing supply source for legal services include in-firm paralegals, regulated and non-regulated paralegals, self-help kiosks, and pro bono services. Regulated paralegals are a recent phenomenon in Ontario and Britain. Pro bono is clearly one way to meet some of the legal needs. However, it is difficult to quantify pro bono needs. And pro bono services probably can't meet the needs for legal services on a sustained basis.

As regulators of the legal profession, law societies are aware of the complexity, and anecdotally, differing perspectives on the issue of legal services. The challenge, as regulators working in the public interest, is to determine what our role is as a regulator and to take steps to address the problem.

Interest Rate Set for Pecuniary Damages

The Aberta department of Justice and Attorney General has set the interest rate for pecuniary damages under the Judgement Act to 4.25% for the period January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008.