Message from the President
My time as President of the Law Society of Alberta was unlike any challenge I could have anticipated. While facing a global pandemic, the Law Society was still required to uphold its regulatory obligations to protect the public interest while navigating the many challenges faced by the legal profession. In the early stages of the pandemic, the impacts on all sectors and our communities were not clear. It was important to come together and support our partners and collaborate with key stakeholders such as the Government of Alberta, the courts and others in the legal community to raise awareness of issues impacting the justice system. As we are now almost a year into the pandemic, we continue to support our stakeholders and the public interest.
A Message from Elizabeth J. Osler, QC
It goes without saying that 2020 was a truly unprecedented time. The global pandemic caused challenges and uncertain times for people and businesses around the world, and the legal profession was no exception. As the regulator of the legal profession in Alberta, we rose to the challenge and maintained our core operations while responding to the changing needs of the public interest and lawyers in the province.
Over the last year, it has been inspiring to see those in our personal and professional communities come together to find creative solutions to managing the pandemic. The Law Society switched to an entirely remote workforce in mid-March and quickly adapted to continue to fulfill our mandate in this new environment. We also found many ways to improve operational efficiencies, including conducting virtual hearings which increased public participation. Many of these changes will become our new way of business moving forward.
In addition to the process efficiencies and changes within our operations, the Law Society continued to progress work on our new five-year Strategic Plan, with a focus on innovation and proactive regulation; lawyer competence and wellness; access; and equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) initiatives. We suspended the Continuing Professional Development program to make room for the development of a new competency framework and a modern era of lawyer competence. As part of our work in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, we also launched the “My Experience” Project to listen and learn to members of our profession on issues of racism and discrimination. More information on what we learned will be shared with the profession in 2021. For the first time in Law Society history, we also conducted the Bencher Election entirely online in November 2020, and our new slate of Benchers is our most diverse board yet.
Read more about our 2020 initiatives in the Year in Review section below.
While there is much work to be done over the next five years, I am confident that we are well positioned to reach our strategic goals while regulating the profession in the public interest.
Elizabeth J. Osler, QC, Chief Executive Officer & Executive Director
Who We Are
About the Law Society
The Law Society of Alberta regulates the legal profession in the public interest by promoting and enforcing a high standard of professional and ethical conduct by Alberta lawyers.
We derive our authority from the Legal Profession Act and set standards through the Code of Conduct and the Rules of the Law Society of Alberta.
Mission
Ensure high standards of professional conduct and competency through the governance and independent regulation of the legal profession.
VALUES
- Integrity – honest and ethical behaviour.
- Transparency – open, timely and clear processes.
- Fairness – equitable treatment of people interacting with the Law Society and the profession we govern.
- Respect – equity, diversity and inclusion in the profession, the Law Society and our interactions with the public.
- Independence – autonomous regulation of an independent legal profession and commitment to the rule of law.
- Visionary leadership – innovation in regulation, governance and business operations
Regulatory Objectives
The Law Society views its core purpose as an active obligation and duty to uphold and protect the public interest in the delivery of legal services. The public interest, as it applies to the work of the Law Society, will be upheld and protected through the following regulatory objectives:
- Protect those who use legal services;
- Promote the independence of the legal profession, the administration of justice and the rule of law;
- Create and promote required standards for the ethical and competent delivery of legal services and enforce compliance with those standards in a manner that is fair, transparent, efficient, proactive, proportionate and principled;
- Promote access to legal services; and
- Promote equity, diversity and inclusion in the legal profession and in the delivery of legal services.
The Law Society will have regard for these regulatory objectives when discharging its regulatory functions.
Read the Executive Summary – Regulatory Objectives of the Law Society of Alberta.
Strategic goals
The Law Society’s 2020 – 2024 Strategic Plan provided direction and focus to the board and the entire organization, including a framework for decision making, resource allocation and priority setting. The Strategic Plan guided our activities to achieve four main goals:
- Innovation and Proactive Regulation: Regulate the legal profession in a manner that is innovative, proactive, transparent and proportionate.
- Competence & Wellness: Promote a broad concept of competency and wellness in the legal profession.
- Access: Promote affordability of legal services and remove regulatory barriers to access where reasonable and appropriate.
- Equity, Diversity & Inclusion: Lead the profession to increase cultural competency and promote a profession that is representative of the public it serves.
Board members in 2020
The Law Society is governed by a 24-member Board. Of the 24 Board members, also called Benchers, 20 are lawyers elected by the profession, and four are public representatives appointed by the Alberta Minister of Justice and Solicitor General. As well, the immediate past-President serves on the Executive Committee. For 2020, this was Rob W. Armstrong, QC.
The Board provides strategic direction, focusing on goals which demonstrate our values and help achieve our vision and mission.
- Kent Teskey, QC, President
- Darlene W. Scott, QC, President-Elect
- Ryan D. Anderson, QC
- Arman Chak
- Corie Flett, QC
- Bill Hendsbee, QC
- Cal Johnson, QC
- Linda Long, QC
- Jim Lutz, QC
- Bud Melnyk, QC
- Walter Pavlic, QC
- Lou Pesta, QC
- Corinne Petersen, QC
- Stacy Petriuk, QC
- Robert Philp, QC
- Kathleen Ryan, QC
- Deanna Steblyk, QC
- Margaret Unsworth, QC
- Ken Warren, QC
- Nathan Whitling (Appointed to the Court of Queen's Bench in March 2020)
- Elizabeth Hak, Public Representative
- Barbara McKinley, Public Representative
- Cora Voyageur, PhD, Public Representative
- Louise Wasylenko, CPA, CMA, Public Representative
Task Forces and Committees
Major committees, task forces and liaisons conduct governance work associated with our core regulatory functions. Learn more about our committees and task forces here.
Board Committees
Executive Committee | Audit and Finance Committee | Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee | Lawyer Competence Committee | Nominating Committee | Pension Committee (dissolved in February 2020) | Policy and Regulatory Reform Committee | Professional Responsibility Committee
Adjudication Committees
Assurance Fund Adjudications (Finance) Committee | Complaint Dismissal Appeals Committee | Conduct Committee | Credentials and Education Committee | Practice Review Committee | Trust Safety Committee
Task Forces and Advisory Committees
Bencher Election Task Force | Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Committee | Indigenous Advisory Committee | Lawyer Competence Advisory Committee
Year in Review
PANDEMIC RESPONSE
The Law Society responded to the pandemic to effectively support the organization, the public and the legal community. A significant amount of work went into managing our response to the pandemic.
Since March 2020, the Law Society significantly increased our communications in support of changes within the organization, as well as in support of key stakeholders including the Courts, to ensure lawyers had access to vital information during the pandemic. Among other things, we:
- Delivered steady communications to the profession to keep them up to date on COVID-related news. This included developing a “COVID-19 Updates” and a “Frequently Asked Questions” section to the Law Society website to serve as a single point of pandemic-related information for all Law Society and ALIA communications.
- Collaborated with key stakeholder groups including Canadian Centre for Professional Legal Education (CPLED), the Courts, the land titles office and government entities to address key issues for lawyers coming out of the pandemic.
- Reduced the minimum length of the articling term from 12 to eight months to add flexibility for students, firms and organizations as they navigate the articling period. This was also done in response to significant concern from students that they would lose their positions as firms/principals dealt with the economic impacts to their business.
- Extended the Trust Safety annual filing deadline from March 31 to April 30, and corresponding penalties for late filing were also adjusted.
- Moved the administrative suspension deadline for the annual fee billing from March to April 15, giving lawyers another month to pay without loss of status or incurring fees.
- Increased the subsidy for students for the Practice Readiness Education Program (PREP) by an additional $1,000 per student.
- Focused on cost recovery throughout 2020 to allow for a practice fee reduction of 10 per cent in 2021. The Benchers set the 2021 practice fee at $2,340 per active lawyer, following four years of practice fees at $2,600 per active lawyer.
- Changed our billing processes to allow lawyers to pay their annual fees in instalments starting in 2021. By moving fee payment to two equal, annual instalments, lawyers now have the option of spreading their financial obligations through the year rather than paying one lump sum.
- Worked alongside CPLED to change the admission requirements for PREP to allow students greater flexibility during this unprecedented period. Students with a Canadian common law degree or Certificate of Qualification from the Federation of Law Societies of Canada could register and complete PREP without secured articles for the June and December 2020 intakes. Originally, a student could only complete the foundational modules of PREP without a secured article.
A new five-year strategic plan
While much of the work to create the 2020 – 2024 Strategic Plan occurred in 2019, 2020 marked the first year of the plan being put into action. This new five-year plan was released in January and a significant amount of work was completed in 2020 to move the new strategic goals forward.
The 2020 – 2024 Strategic Plan provides direction and focus to our Board (Benchers) and the entire organization, including a framework for decision making, resource allocation and priority setting. Our strategic goals are:
- Innovation & Proactive Regulation
- Competence & Wellness
- Access
- Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
PART-TIME MEMBERSHIP STATUS LAUNCHED
A part-time membership status option was officially launched in February to allow for greater flexibility for Alberta lawyers.
Our initial exploration of implementing part-time fees was motivated by requests from Alberta lawyers; data gathered from our exit surveys and the Retention & Re-engagement Task Force Report; as well as from our own goals in support of furthering equity, diversity and inclusion within the profession and supporting access to justice for the public.
After extensive engagement with the profession, part-time membership was defined as a lawyer in private practice who works fewer than 20 hours per week on average and fewer than 750 hours per year in total on billable tasks, excluding pro bono work, and has gross billings of less than $90,000 per year globally. Lawyers who choose part-time membership status will pay a reduced membership fee.
A total of 355 lawyers opted for part-time status in 2020, many of which were junior-level female lawyers or senior-level male lawyers who are likely transitioning into retirement.
lawyer referral service moved in-house
In March, we moved operation of the Lawyer Referral Service (LRS) in-house from its previous service provider, Calgary Legal Guidance (CLG).
LRS has long been one of the Law Society's most popular services with the public. Our customer service team assumed operation of LRS, expanding both the number of available staff and technology available to serve both Alberta’s lawyers and the public.
Taking this program in-house almost doubled the number of active calls coming into our Customer Service centre. From April 1 to Dec. 31 in 2020, the Law Society LRS line received and managed 18,898 calls. In contrast, the Law Society’s regular line over the same period received 19,542 (for a total of 38,440 calls over a nine-month period).
lawyer competence and equity, diversity and inclusion committees
The Law Society has been working on lawyer competence and wellness issues for many years. This work was further brought into focus as a result of our articling survey findings in 2019. As a result, we created the Lawyer Competence Committee, comprised of Benchers, along with a Lawyer Competence Advisory Committee, comprised of other members of the profession, to start to address these issues.
These committees started their work with a focus on the articling system and competence for entry level practice, but are expanding the scope to also look at lawyers in early practice (first three years) as well as continuing professional development (CPD) at all stages of a lawyer’s career.
The Law Society has also been working on equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) issues. Stemming from the 2019 articling survey results, the EDI Committee and the EDI Advisory Committee were formed to address key issues within this sphere and to gather diverse perspectives on the issues.
We recognize that we are in the early stages of modernizing an approach of identifying and addressing harassment, discrimination and other EDI issues, and we look forward to working with the profession on this important topic.
continuing professional development
In February 2020, the Board approved the suspension of the mandatory Continuing Professional Development (CPD) filing requirement for the profession for the years 2020 and 2021. This will allow us to dedicate our efforts to rebuilding a new competence model that will aspire to empower and equip lawyers to provide the best legal services they can to Albertans.
Although the mandatory filing requirement was lifted for the years 2020 and 2021, lawyers are still encouraged to develop an annual CPD plan. The CPD planning tool through the Lawyer Portal continues to be available.
Through this work on the CPD program, we promoted high standards of competence and wellness, and will continue to do so in 2021. We want to:
- be sure that competency requirements are relevant and proportionate to the stage and setting of lawyers' careers;
- broaden the concept of competency to extend into non-traditional areas such as technology and general cultural competence; and
- reduce stigma related to mental and physical health issues by creating a supportive environment for lawyers to ask for help or resources.
INDIGENOUS CULTURAL COMPETENCY EDUCATION
In October 2020, the Benchers approved Indigenous Cultural Competency education for all active Alberta lawyers. The selected program, called The Path, was vetted by Indigenous lawyers and the Indigenous Advisory Committee. The Path also has the endorsement of the Canadian Bar Association (CBA) and is well-regarded across Canada. Having selected The Path, we began work to develop Alberta-specific content to make our own version, which we refer to as The Path (Alberta).
The Benchers also approved several key parameters including timelines, costs and exemptions for the Indigenous Cultural Competency education. For more information, read our FAQ.
The Path (Alberta) will launch in spring 2021 and lawyers will have 18 months from the launch date to complete the program. The 18-month timeline will apply to all lawyers who change to active status following the launch of The Path (Alberta), effective from the date they become
lawyer licensing and competence report
The Lawyer Competence Committee worked with well-known legal analyst, Jordan Furlong, on a report of recommendations for lawyer licensing and competence in Alberta. The report was approved at the December 3, 2020 Bencher meeting and work began to prioritize the recommendations, as well as consider resourcing, timelines for implementation and future engagement opportunities for the profession. Read the full report.
The work was grouped into three main categories: Lawyer Licensing, New Lawyer Development and Continuing Learning. We also categorized each recommendation as achievable in the short (2021 – 22), medium (2023), and long term.
"My Experience" Project
Issues of systemic racism and discrimination were highlighted in Canada and around the world in 2020. In response, we adopted a listen, learn and act approach to issues of racism and discrimination within the legal profession, specifically as it related to our regulatory mandate. We endeavoured to hear about the experiences of those impacted by racism and discrimination in Alberta’s legal community. From there, we could learn about where we, as the regulator of the legal profession, can make a difference through resources, policies, programming and other areas within our regulatory jurisdiction.
In September we launched the “My Experience” project, inviting Alberta lawyers, articling students, law students and internationally trained lawyers (including those who are not yet called to the Alberta bar) to submit stories about their own experiences where racial discrimination or stereotyping impacted their legal career.
In doing this work, we recognized the importance of our own self-reflection and welcomed any feedback from the project that highlighted issues that needed to be addressed by the Law Society itself.
Experiences gathered through this project will inform the future work of the Law Society’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Committee and the Indigenous Advisory Committee. Experiences will also be shared with the profession in 2021.
bencher election
For the first time in the Law Society’s history, the 2020 Bencher election was conducted entirely online. Key to the fully-online election was the launch of the new Bencher Election website. The website was designed, in part, to help level the playing field for candidates, as it provided a single one-stop-shop for candidates, voters and other stakeholders for all materials related to the election.
With 4,854 ballots cast from November 2 to 16, the 2020 Bencher Election had the highest turnout in Law Society of Alberta history, with more than 46 per cent of eligible voters participating. This represents an increase of more than nine per cent from our 2017 turnout.
The Numbers
Financial reports
The Law Society uses external auditors to produce financial statements annually. Our 2020 financial statements can be found on our website.
Lawyer Statistics
As of December 31, 2020, there were 10,548 active lawyers and 4,256 inactive lawyers. Both statistics show an increase over the 2019 numbers.
Age and Gender Breakdowns
Of the total number of active lawyers in Alberta, approximately 41 per cent are female, 59 per cent are male, and less than one per cent are transgender. Please note that the Law Society is committed to an inclusive reporting process that allows for statistically significant year-over-year reporting.
The number of male and female lawyers in both firm and in-house settings remains relatively consistent and equal for those who have 25 years of service or less. However, in the senior cohort of those with over 25 years of experience, males outnumber females by a ratio of over three to one.
conduct statistics
National Discipline Standards
We are currently meeting 80 per cent of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada’s National Discipline Standards. The reason we are not at 100% is because one of the standards cannot be met without an amendment to the Legal Profession Act regarding the privacy and confidentiality of our conduct proceedings.
Issues concerning lawyers in Alberta
Of the general inquiries and concerns about Alberta lawyers received in 2020, 716 were referred to Early Intervention and 238 matters were referred to Conduct.
When a lawyer fails to fulfil the administrative requirements imposed by the Law Society through Rules, the lawyer will be administratively suspended until they have fulfilled their obligations. Due to this kind of non-compliance, 63 lawyers were administratively suspended in 2020. The majority of these lawyers have resolved the issue and have since been reinstated.
Definitions
Hearing Committee
When a lawyer is directed to hearing, the matter is heard by a Hearing Committee. If a lawyer is found guilty, penalties can be imposed including a reprimand, fine, suspension, and disbarment.
- Reprimand: A formal expression of reproach, either written or oral, issued by the Hearing Committee, which becomes part of the lawyer’s conduct record.
- Suspension: A lawyer’s membership in the Law Society of Alberta is suspended and they are prohibited to practise law in Alberta for a specific period.
- Disbarred: The lawyer’s membership in the Law Society of Alberta is terminated and they can no longer practise law in Alberta.
In addition to the penalties described above, a lawyer may also be required to pay a fine to the Law Society of Alberta.
Resignation Committee
When a lawyer who is the subject of current complaints and discipline proceedings wishes to resign, the resignation application is heard by a panel of three Benchers.
- Resignation in the Face of Discipline: A lawyer who faces conduct proceedings but is given permission by a Resignation Committee to resign due to mitigating factors or circumstances.
- Deemed Disbarment: A lawyer who faces serious conduct proceedings which would likely give rise to a penalty of disbarment but is given permission by a Resignation Committee to resign under s. 61 of the Legal Profession Act. Such resignations are deemed to equate to disbarment.
Contact Us
The Law Society of Alberta | 700, 333 – 11th Avenue SW, Calgary, AB T2R 1L9 | lawsociety.ab.ca | feedback@lawsociety.ab.ca | 403.229.4700 or toll free 1.800.661.9003