The Law Society of Alberta offers practice advice to lawyers in a variety of different ways. We encourage you to visit our Resource Centre, a regularly updated library of Law Society-produced materials including articles, courses, model policies and checklists, webinars and more. You may also want to refer to the Legal Profession Act, the Code of Conduct or the Rules of the Law Society of Alberta. Practice Advisors do not provide advice to the public.
Practice Advisors
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| Elizabeth Aspinall | Nancy Carruthers Manager, Policy and Ethics |
Jesse Mackenzie | Ross McLeod, QC Part time (Wed-Fri) |
Our Practice Advisors are available as a free and confidential service to help Alberta lawyers, legal support staff and articling students with legal, ethical and practice inquiries. They mediate and arbitrate inter-lawyer disputes as well as assist lawyers in accessing resources for practice-related stress issues.
“We hear things that may be of concern to lawyers in their professional and personal lives. What I like about this job is that I get to deal with the human side of Alberta lawyers and hopefully make a difference.” Ross McLeod
Practice Advisor phone inquiries are streamed to a central phone number:
Toll free: 1.866.440.4640 Local: 587.390.8462
Responding to over 5000 inquiries a year, there are limits to what our Practice Advisors are available for.
Practice Advisors do advise on |
Practice Advisors do not advise on |
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The Practice Advisors also operate AdvisorLink where lawyers or students-at-law are provided with the contact information for lawyers in the community who have agreed to serve as a resource to less experienced members of the Bar. These lawyers are available to answer one-off inquiries in a wide range of practice areas.
The Office of the Practice Advisor also hosts the SoloNet online community for sole and small firm practitioners.
The Law Society of Alberta established the Office of the Equity Ombudsperson to provide confidential advice, information and assistance to lawyers, articling students and support staff working in the legal profession on issues of discrimination or harassment by lawyers.
Top 5 Tips for Contacting a Practice Advisor
It is the Practice Advisors’ job to listen, provide information and guidance, and when necessary, give feedback on how to resolve a problem. It is their role to help lawyers understand professional obligations and assist them to find the best way forward. As a lawyer, legal support staff or articling student, please consider the following tips:
- Ask your question of one Practice Advisor only. If you have contacted more than one advisor, let the advisor know so that only one person is handling your request. If you phone or email more than one person, it can actually take longer to receive a reply.
- If you have left a message with the Practice Advisors, please wait for a call back. If you have already spoken to a Practice Advisor about a particular issue, please indicate who it was. We endeavor to call you back within one business day.
- Ask your question at the beginning of your call. You can fill in background details as necessary.
- Call us yourself. Too often lawyers ask an assistant or a student to call for help, and the caller does not understand the lawyer’s question or have sufficient information.
- If you leave a voicemail message or send an email, provide
– your full name, including the spelling of your surname,
– your phone number and locale (saying it twice is helpful),
– indicate if you wish to speak to a particular Practice Advisor,
– the name of your law firm,
– the subject matter and your question and
– whether (or not) the matter is time-sensitive.