Last updated Oct. 2024

The resources listed below can help lawyers keep up to date with the latest developments in their practice areas to ensure they are meeting their professional obligation to provide competent services.

• Alberta Law Libraries: With an Alberta Law Library account, lawyers can access online legal research platforms, either remotely or on-site at select library locations. Lawyers can also access the Legal Education Society of Alberta (LESA) Library, which includes education content relevant to a variety of practice areas. The libraries also provide support on how to find, manage and research legal information. For more information, refer to the Alberta Law Libraries’ website.
• Citator Alerts: Many legal research platforms allow users to set up alerts for amendments to legislation, new decisions containing specific phrases or legal terms, or tracking the treatment of specific cases over time. For instance, a lawyer interested in employment law can create a query alert for the term “constructive dismissal” or create an amendment alert for Alberta’s Employment Standards Code. Every time this term appears in a new court judgment, or the legislation is amended, the lawyer will be notified either through the research platform or via email. To set up alerts on CanLII, see Keeping Track of Your Legal Research with myCanLII.
• Court Alerts: The courts offer mailing lists, where subscribers are notified via email when new announcements are posted on their websites. Lawyers can sign up for the mailing lists using the relevant links.
  Alberta Court of Justice
  Court of King’s Bench of Alberta
  Court of Appeal of Alberta
  Supreme Court of Canada
  Federal Court of Canada
• Joining professional associations: There are various professional associations available to help lawyers stay current with the latest information and trends. One example of a long-standing association is the Canadian Bar Association – Alberta Branch, that has speciality groups, or Sections, that focus on substantive law within various practice areas in the province. The Sections host professional development events and are an opportunity for lawyers to engage with like-minded professionals.
• Attending webinars and conferences: Several long-standing legal professional organizations, such as Legal Education Society of Alberta (LESA), Canadian Bar Association, the Alberta Civil Trial Lawyers Association and The Advocates Society, host webinars and events on diverse substantive legal topics and recent developments.
• Legal publications: Subscribing to legal journals, newsletters and blogs can be a great way to quickly learn about the latest developments in law. Many practice areas have their own dedicated publications and lawyers can gain exposure to their specific areas of interest/practice. Asking colleagues, mentors and other lawyers what legal publications they subscribe to will give you a sense of the offerings available in your area. However, exercise caution before relying on these publications as authoritative.

By keeping up with substantive and procedural law, lawyers can feel confident that they are providing legal services to the standard of a competent lawyer. Lawyers can also apply their learning towards their Continuing Professional Development (CPD) requirements. Lawyers can do this in the CPD Tool by choosing to focus on competencies that can be tailored to their practice areas, such as competencies from the Legal Practice, Continuous Improvement or Professional Conduct domains, or by adding custom competencies for an even more granular focus.

The resources provided above are just a start. Lawyers are encouraged to find their own ways to stay current with their practice areas and continue to provide legal services at a high standard.