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In this issue:
• From the President:
Profession is a Nation of Shopkeepers
• Long Service Awards
Celebrate Distinguished Careers
• LSA Committed to
Supporting Sole Practitioners, Small Firms
• New "Know Your Client"
Rules Come Into Effect December 31, 2008
• Sole Practitioners, Small
Firm Lawyers Benefit from CPD Program
• Changes Signal New Era for
CPLED Program
• Aboriginal Law Student Summer Program Places Trio into
Positions
• Lawyers Honoured for 30 or More Years
Membership
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 From the President: Profession is a Nation of
Shopkeepers
By Perry Mack, QC,
President, Law Society of Alberta
In my time as a Bencher I have striven to keep in mind
the notion that at its heart the legal profession is "a
nation of shopkeepers."
As much as large national and international law firms
have risen in prominence as a response to a global
economy, it is still the sole practitioner and the small
law firm that attends to the day-to-day needs for legal
services of the average Canadian. A few statistics serve
to demonstrate the point. At the Law Society we define a
small firm has having two to five lawyers. As of early
November 2008, there were 5641 lawyers in Alberta in
private practice i.e. not working in-house or for some
level of government. Of that number, 1285 are sole
practitioners and 1200 practice in small firms and
another 843 practice in firms with six to 15 members.
>> read
more
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Long Service
Awards Celebrate Distinguished Careers
By Perry Mack, QC, President, Law Society of Alberta
The year 1958 in which Canada’s Avro Arrow made its debut flight,
Sir Edmund Hillary reached the South Pole overland, and John
Diefenbaker led Progressive Conservative Party of Canada to victory,
65 lawyers were called to the Alberta bar.
Fast forward 50
years, the Law Society of Alberta celebrated on October 2, 2008 in
Calgary five decades of service by Donald J. Kelly,
QC; the Honourable John Charles Major, QC;
David J. MacLean, QC; Edward S. Pipella, QC and
Ernest R. Shymka.
>> Read
More
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LSA Committed to
Supporting Sole Practitioners, Small Firms
By Don Thompson, QC, Executive Director, Law Society of
Alberta
Services for lawyers, particularly for sole
practitioners and those in small firms, are among the Law Society of
Alberta’s many offerings.
The LSA provides support to those
who have chosen to practise law by hanging out their own shingles or
by joining with one or several lawyers in a boutique firm. These
include the services of the:
• Practice
Advisors who are available to discuss legal, ethical, and
practice concerns, and personal matters such as stress and
addiction. They also mediate and arbitrate inter-lawyer disputes.
The advisors - Nancy Carruthers and Ross McLeod with Jocelyn Frazer
as back-up - provide assistance and resources on strategic planning,
practice management, marketing, and technology and systems.
•
Alberta Lawyers Insurance Association which manages
the Law Society of Alberta’s insurance program for Alberta lawyers.
Similar to malpractice insurance, the program provides professional
liability insurance to more than 5,500 Alberta lawyers.
•
Mentor Program which is designed to provide the
less experienced lawyer with the assistance of more experienced
counsel, and is aimed at ensuring that the public continues to
receive quality legal services.
>> Read
More
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New "Know Your
Client" Rules Come Into Effect December 31, 2008
Please note the implementation date has been delayed for one
month, from December 1st to December 31, 2008 to be consistent with
the date set by other law societies across Canada.
New rules
on client identification and verification requirements are based on
a model rule developed by the Federation of Law Societies of Canada.
These rules are part of a national initiative to fight fraud and
money laundering. Visit www.lawsociety.ab.ca
for more information on the application of the model rule in
Alberta, and to download the sample forms.
The Law Society
of Alberta will be communicating with Alberta lawyers over the next
few weeks about the new "know-your-client" rules. Further updates
and additional information will be available on the website and
through E-bulletins.
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Sole
Practitioners, Small Firm Lawyers Benefit from CPD
Program
By Margaret Hollis, Policy and Program Counsel, Law Society
of Alberta
With so many challenges and issues faced
them, small firms and sole practitioners could be forgiven for
seeing the new Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirement
as an additional burden.
Staying current is more difficult
and more important in a small firm or a solo practice. The practice
is likely more general – and the more general the practice, the more
subject there is to keep up with. Lawyers working alone or in small
groups do not have the advantage of sharing in the larger knowledge
base of a big firm. And finally, they must manage the business
themselves, and so must keep up not only with the law, but best
practices in management, marketing, technology, and all the
complications of running a small business.
>> Read
More
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Changes Signal New
Era for CPLED Program
By Trevor Clark, Managing Director/Deputy Director, CPLED
Alberta
Significant revisions to the CPLED Program
approved by the Benchers signal a new era for students and
ultimately the legal profession.
The revisions are effective
retroactively to July 1, 2008. The changes to the CPLED Program have
therefore already been implemented, and corresponding rule changes
are in effect
>> Read
More
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Aboriginal Law
Student Summer Program Places Trio into Positions
By Jocelyn Frazer, Equity Ombudsperson, Law Society of
Alberta
To provide insights into First Nations culture,
and career opportunities for students, the Aboriginal Law student
program has again facilitated the placement of three second-year
students into summer student positions.
Since the program
started in 2006 as a pilot project, it has facilitated the placement
of 14 law students in summer student positions. Many of these
students have, as a result of their participation in the program,
gone on to secure articling positions with the firms for which they
have worked.
>> Read
More
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Lawyers Honoured
for 30 or More Years Membership
Congratulations to the following members of the Law Society of
Alberta who are being commemorated this year for 30 years of active
membership in the Law Society of Alberta. These members will receive
a 10-karat gold recognition pin and a congratulatory letter from
Perry Mack, QC, President of the Law Society of Alberta. The
eligibility criteria recognizes 30 years of active membership,
regardless of whether the service is insured or uninsured, and
whether it is rendered within or outside Alberta. For details,
please contact Sheila Serup, Manager, Communications at (403)
229-4744 or at Sheila.serup@lawsociety.ab.ca
>> Read
More
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Why Independence Matters:
LSA Plenary at Alberta Law Conference January 29, 2009
Law societies govern in the public interest, however this means
different things to different people.
Reviews of the legal profession in England and Australia have
resulted in the regulation of the profession coming under greater
scrutiny and challenge than ever before. The Canadian Competition
Bureau report brings to the forefront crucial questions such
as: Why do lawyers regulate themselves? How do law societies
do their work and why do they do it the way they do? Should law
societies be moving to a national standard of regulation?
read
more
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Networking with Other Solo
Practitioners
Lawyers practising in solo settings can face challenges ranging
from feelings of isolation to frustrations with scheduling time away
from the office.
If you are interested in networking with
other lawyers who practise on their own – either in virtual offices,
from home, or in a more traditional office setting - please send an
email to Jocelyn Frazer, LSA Equity Ombudsperson, with your contact
information and what you would like to see in such a network.
She can be reached at jocelyn.frazer@lawsociety.ab.ca
(403) 229-4769 or toll free at 1-888-229-4769
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Get Involved with LSA by
Applying for Committee Work
Committee service is an excellent way to get involved with the
Law Society of Alberta.
Most LSA issues either begin at the
committee level, or are referred to committees for further
examination and recommendations before being brought to the benchers
for consideration. Committee service offers tremendous professional
development opportunities and is a way to meet other members of
Alberta’s legal community. Read
More
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Feedback Needed on Common
Law Degree Consultation
By Don Thompson, QC, Executive Director, Law Society of
Alberta
Are the criteria currently in place for approval of an LL.B/ J.D.
law degree sufficient for determining entrance to law societies' bar
admission/ licensing programs? Should there be modifications? And if
modifications are required, what would be the national standards for
approved LL.B/J.D. degrees?
These are several of the questions
on which the Federation of Law Societies of Canada is seeking
feedback. Read
More
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Dower Consent Schedule to
the Standard Form AREA Listing Agreement
By Steve Raby, QC, Chair, Real Estate Practice Advisory
Committee
The Alberta Real Estate Association has recently amended its
standard form listing agreement to clarify that where the title is
in only one name, the person is legally married and either one of
the married couple resided on the property during their marriage, a
dower consent must be obtained from the non-titled spouse at the
time of the execution of the listing agreement.
Read
More
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2008 Viscount Bennett
Scholarship Winner
University of Alberta law graduate, Matt Vernon
(Calgary) is the recipient of the 2008 Viscount Bennett Scholarship.
After obtaining a B.A. in English literature from the
University of Calgary, he earned his LL.B. from the University of
Alberta in 2006. Following graduation, he clerked with the
Alberta Court of Appeal and was called to the bar November 2007
after completing the remainder of his articles with Macleod Dixon
LLP, where he stayed on as a litigation associate.
In the
fall of 2008, he began a residence at Wadham College to start work
on the BCL, a one-year taught graduate degree at the University of
Oxford. His coursework for the year will focus on international
trade law and dispute resolution and transnational commercial law.
The Viscount Bennett Scholarship was established through a
trust fund by the Right Honourable Viscount Bennett to encourage a
high standard of legal education, training and excellence.
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