Trust Accounting Seminars May 8 and 10
Tips on how to maintain books and records, recognize problems in trust reconciliations and avoid common audit exceptions will be discussed in free trust accounting seminars.
The Law Society of Alberta will be presenting two trust accounting seminars, on May 8, 2007 at the International Hotel in Calgary and May 10 at the Crowne Plaza Chateau Lacombe in Edmonton. These seminars are intended to educate lawyers and their staff on Law Society of Alberta Rules (Part 5) relating to financial records, accounts and trust money.
Trust Seminar Locations:
Calgary - May 8, 9:30 - 11:30 a.m.
Riverview Room
International Hotel
220-4th Ave SW
Calgary AB T2P 0H5
Edmonton - May 10, 9:30 - 11:30 a.m.
Lacombe Room
Crowne Plaza Chateau Lacombe
10111 Bellamy Hill
Edmonton, AB T5J 1N7
Please register by May 1st by contacting Donna Kanomata, LSA Audit Assistant, at (403) 228-1728 or by email: auditassist4
@lawsocietyalberta.com. Registration forms are available the LSA website.
Walmart Law or Traditional Law:
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| Can people afford lawyers? Is the justice system suffering due to the high price of legal help? Is the Law Society of Alberta doing enough to ensure that clients have reasonable access to justice? These and other questions were on the table at the Law Society of Alberta's plenary session at the CBA Alberta Law conference March 15, 2007. As a popular buzz word these days, what does "access to justice" mean to lawyers and to the independent and self-regulated bar as a whole? Arguably it relates to lawyers' self-governing status under the Legal Profession Act. For with self-governance comes an effective monopoly over who is authorized to practice law. Self-governance may be at risk if the public is denied access to legal services which only lawyers are authorized to provide. Self-represented litigants: Increasing numbers of self-represented litigants are appearing at all levels of courts, noted the Honourable Allan Lefever, who was the first of the plenary panelists to speak. Although statistics are hard to come by, it appears most self-represented litigants are unable to afford the ongoing services of a lawyer, he explained. They do not qualify for legal aid or have run out of money before the end of the case. A few truly do not want lawyers; others are pursuing causes lawyers properly won't touch. In many cases, they take longer to be heard, their legal positions are poorly articulated, judges may be compromised, and represented parties incur higher legal expense. Lawyers, judges, court administrators and governments are looking hard at the phenomenon of self-represented litigants, the Honourable Allan Lefever told the audience, and at potential solutions. Flowing in part from the work of Alberta's Self-Represented Litigant Committee, a move is afoot to open self-help information kiosks in the Edmonton, Red Deer and Grande Prairie courthouses, |
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 aimed to be clearing houses for information for parties not represented by counsel. Paralegals: Do paralegals increase access to justice by offering legal services more cheaply than lawyers? Cost aside, how qualified are paralegals, given that outside of law firms they operate in an unregulated environment? Within limits paralegals are permitted to provide legal services. By doing so, they limit the involvement of lawyers and potentially increase access to justice. The issue posed to the plenary was whether the Law Society should take steps to increase the involvement of qualified paralegals, perhaps within a regulated environment. Information is lacking as to the extent of paralegal activity in Alberta, whether the current lack of regulation is a pressing concern, and whether paralegals in fact increase access to justice. In Ontario, however, such concerns have led to paralegal regulation by the Law Society of Upper Canada effective May 1, 2007 under Ontario's Access to Justice Act. Limited retainers: Known also as "unbundling", the object of a limited retainer is ironically to increase access to justice by limiting the involvement of lawyers. The notion is simply that lawyers can be retained to provide less than 100 per cent of the legal services necessary to see a legal matter to its conclusion. Limited retainers are permitted by Alberta's Code of Professional Conduct. They already exist in several settings, for example Legal Aid's Duty Counsel and Law Line continued on page 05 sidebar |
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