Following an in-depth analysis by the Law Society of both the costs and the impact internally and to the profession, the Law Society decided to eliminate the credit card payment option from its infrastructure in early 2020.

Similarly, the Law Society determined that the benefit of accepting cheques as a form of payment was outweighed by the cost of the manual process required to accept them.

As all billing of ALIA’s levies – and all processing of payments associated with them – is done through the Law Society, this change by the Law Society means that ALIA can no longer accept credit card or cheque payments. ALIA’s Subscribers benefit from the substantial cost savings.

Going forward, payment to the Law Society or ALIA can be made through your online bank (for individual lawyers) or via electronic funds transfer (for firms/firm administrators).

Unfortunately, the Law Society’s research indicates that it is not possible at this time for ALIA to charge a convenience fee when paying by credit card to compensate for the merchant banking fees. If the ability to offset such banking fees does become possible, the Law Society will revisit this issue.

Setting up Online Bill Payment is an easy, one-time process. If you’ve ever paid a bill through your online bank, the process is the same – simply record your member ID and invoice number via the Lawyer Portal, certify that you will complete your payment and submit.

Once you have submitted, pay your invoice amount via your online bank and you’re all set.

For support on setting up online payment, contact your financial institution.

You must complete all the EFT steps in the Lawyer/Firm Administrator Portal for this information.

To send an EFT, you must have two pieces of information: the full name of the company (Law Society of Alberta or Alberta Lawyers Indemnity Association) and the bank account information for the company. The bank account information is provided on the return sheet (reference number) in the Lawyer/Firm Administrator Portal.

Paying by Online Banking/EFT is fast, secure, there are no hidden fees. You only need to set up our banking information once for the Law Society and once for ALIA, and payments can be made quickly.

It takes approximately one business day for the ALIA to receive an EFT on online bill payment. After logging in to the Lawyer Portal, view your invoice and record your member ID. Make sure to certify that you have made your payment in the Lawyer Portal and that you complete your payment prior to the relevant deadline to avoid suspension.

We strongly encourage you to submit all payments prior to our deadlines to avoid the risk of administrative suspension. For example, if you pay on the March 15 deadline, your payment will not be received until March 16, which may result in an administrative suspension.

Yes. EFT payments are a secure way of sending money. If you have any questions about your banking security, please reach out to your bank.

Each bank has a different way of managing EFTs, so we encourage you to contact your bank to set up EFT payments. In the meantime, we are happy to help you with any Lawyer/Firm Administrator Portal questions you may have regarding the EFT payment method.

When you are setting up EFT, please ensure you note the payee as the Alberta Lawyer’s Indemnity Association.

Yes. It’s possible for you to post-date an EFT payment. If you select this method, we encourage you to post-date the payment for two business days prior to our deadline.

Like many organizations, we are committed to a digital strategy that is transitioning our paper processes to electronic ones. Processing cheques is a manual paper process that is time and resource intensive. Paying the Law Society and ALIA electronically is fast, simple and secure.

It’s best to pay by online banking as soon as possible. Make sure to certify that you have made your payment in the Lawyer Portal and that you complete your payment prior to the relevant deadline to avoid suspension.