Effective Jan. 1, 2027, the Law Society’s membership year will move from March 15 to March 1 and run to the end of February the following year. This change was made to align key reporting and payment dates to one date each year for lawyers to meet their regulatory obligations to the Law Society.

The following deadlines will move to the last day of February each year:

• annual fee payments
• member information updates
• foreign legal consultant license expiry and fee payments
• trust accounting annual reporting
• Continuing Professional Development (CPD) plans

Administrative suspensions will occur on March 1 each year for lawyers who do not meet their regulatory obligations by the end of February deadline.

Important Note: The Alberta Lawyers Indemnity Association (ALIA) policy year will stay the same, running from July 1 to June 30 annually.

Trust Accounting Annual Reporting & Removal of the Late Filing Fees

In addition to aligning the trust accounting annual reporting requirements to the new end of February deadline, the Law Society is removing the escalating late filing fees that Responsible Lawyers (RLs) could pay to extend their filing deadline. Instead, RLs who do not submit their annual trust accounting filings by the last day of February deadline will be subject to administrative suspension.

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Plans

The deadline for submitting CPD plans is moving from Oct. 1 each year to the last day of February each year. The Oct. 1, 2026, CPD plan deadline will now be moved to Feb. 28, 2027.

Lawyers can still access the CPD tool and make changes to their current CPD plans to account for this change in deadline. More information about CPD planning will be shared in upcoming eBulletins.

In 2027, the Law Society and ALIA are reintroducing payment via credit card and will introduce payment by debit card to our online payment options.

In 2020, the option to pay by credit card was removed due to increased fees from payment processors. Since then, legislative amendments and payment fee structures have changed, making it feasible for nonprofit organizations like the Law Society and ALIA to charge a nominal (2.4 per cent of the total) fee to lawyers, students-at-law and firm administrators who want to use a credit card to cover the cost of the transaction.

For individuals and organizations who prefer not to pay an additional credit card processing fee, our current payment options will remain, including electronic bill payment, electronic funds transfer and wire transfer. In addition, payments made using the new debit card option will not have processing fees. Information about the various payment options will be included in the invoice notices.

With the addition of new payment options in 2027, including credit and debit cards, instalment payments will no longer be available. This change takes effect for the 2027 Law Society annual fees and the ALIA Annual Levy on July 1, 2027, for the 2027–2028 ALIA policy year.

Important note: Instalment payments for the 2026 Law Society fee and for the July 1, 2026, and Dec. 31, 2026, ALIA levy are still available.

When a lawyer changes their status during the membership year, they may be eligible for a refund. Effective March 1, 2027, the Law Society will make changes to the refund and proration schedule to align with the new membership year.

The new Refund Policy is as follows:

• For the purpose of proration, the date considered will be the first day of the month following the status change effective date.
• The refund can be made payable only to the party who originally paid the annual fee.
• All status changes resulting in a refund will incur an administrative fee of $100.
• No refunds will be issued for the period of Jan. 15 to the end of February annually.

To accommodate the move away from instalments for the ALIA levy, ALIA will adopt a refund and proration schedule similar to that of the Law Society, effective July 1, 2027.  More information about this change will be shared closer to the effective date.

Following recent changes to the Rules of the Law Society of Alberta regarding Limited Liability Partnerships (LLPs), lawyers will no longer be required to annually renew their LLP registrations with the Law Society as of Aug. 1, 2026. Lawyers will still be responsible for providing an annual report to the Registrar of Corporations pursuant to the Partnership Act (Alberta).

In addition, please note that lawyers must still register their LLPs with the Law Society and must provide updates to the Law Society whenever a change is made to the members of the partnership.

The Law Society Rules have been aligned with subsection 131(4) of the Legal Profession Act (the Act) to eliminate retrospective reinstatements for Professional Corporations (PCs).

Historically, lawyers who did not renew their PC with the Law Society by the Dec. 31 deadline were able to renew their PCs retrospectively. Going forward, lawyers who do not renew their PCs by Dec. 31 will need to reapply for a PC permit and pay the application fee.