July 12, 2019
June Board Meeting Recap Video
President-Elect Kent Teskey provides a summary of what happened at the June Board meeting including changes to the Bencher vacancy process and eligibility criteria for approved legal services providers. Find out more in this video update .

Past Board meeting recap videos can be found on our website .
New Practice Advisor
We are pleased to welcome Allan Guty (pictured right) as our newest Practice Advisor. Allan joined us in June after 19 years with Parlee McLaws LLP.

Allan was called to the Alberta Bar in 1995 when he joined the Walsh LLP firm. In 2000 he joined Parlee McLaws LLP where he practised commercial litigation focusing on the oil and gas industry. He became a partner in 2006 and chaired his firm’s Articling and Associates’ Committees for several years. Allan has also practised criminal, employment and corporate commercial law.

Allan is a graduate of McGill University earning a BA in History in 1990. He received his LL.B. from the University of Saskatchewan Faculty of Law in 1994.

Our Practice Advisors are available as a free and confidential service to help Alberta lawyers, legal support staff and articling students with ethical and practice inquiries. They mediate inter-lawyer disputes as well as assist lawyers in accessing resources for practice-related stress issues.

The Practice Advisors can be reached at phone number (toll free) 1.866.440.4640 or local 587.390.8462
Court of Queen's Bench Notices to the Profession & Public
Enforcement of Mandatory Alternative Dispute Resolution Rules 8.4(3)(A) and 8.5(1)(A)

Effective September 1, 2019, the Court will commence a one-year pilot project to lift the suspension of the enforcement of Rules 8.4(3)(a) and 8.5(1)(a) of the Alberta Rules of Court (“the Mandatory ADR Rules”). Notice to Profession NP 2013-01, which suspended the enforcement of the Mandatory ADR Rules, is hereby repealed, effective August 31, 2019.

Read full notice .
Update: Chief Justice and Associate Chief Justices Allocation of Administrative Responsibilities

With the recent appointment of Justice Kenneth G. Nielsen as an Associate Chief Justice of the Court of Queen's Bench, please be advised that effective July 1, 2019 ... read more .
New Resource - Privacy Breached: Now What?
For hackers, lawyers represent a high value target. Billions of dollars flow through Alberta lawyers’ trust accounts every year ($173B reported in 2018) and lawyers’ files contain extremely valuable personal and commercial information.

It is also said that the weakest link in any security system lies somewhere between the office chair and the keyboard. Innocent mistakes are among the most common reasons why law firms suffer security breaches.

All of this requires law firms to be diligent in how they handle and protect their data. You are the last line of defence in data protection.

Read article .
Law Society of Alberta Sees First Articling Student Called to the Bar
We want to congratulate Eleanor Platt, the first lawyer to complete her articles at the Law Society of Alberta.
 
Ms. Platt was called to the Alberta Bar on June 21. She completed a Bachelor of Laws with a minor in French law, and subsequently a Master of Media Law, Policy and Practice at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. Her academic and personal achievements made her the ideal candidate to pilot the role of articling student at the Law Society of Alberta.
 
Read more about her story and this historic moment here .