In the October 1, 2021 Board Meeting, the Benchers approved amendments to the Rules of the Law Society of Alberta regarding the approval and management of trust accounts by Alberta lawyers. The amended Rules went into effect on January 1, 2022. The Law Society realigned the Rules to better suit the lifecycle of a trust account and incorporated modern practices and technologies used by law firms in Alberta.
For more information on the changes, read the full announcement.
To cross-reference the new Rules to the prior Rule versions, please review this chart.
We commit to the following service standards in providing you with the help you need:
| Service | Timeline |
|---|---|
| Application to Designate a Responsible Lawyer and/or Operate a Trust Account | Two to three weeks from the time the Certificates of Completion for the Trust Safety Online Modules are received. The processing time may be extended depending on the amount of follow up required in the process. |
| Application for Exemption | Two to three weeks from the time the Application is received. The processing time may be extended depending on the amount of follow up required in the process |
| Designate an Alternate Signing Authority | Two weeks for new requests and renewals. |
| General enquiries – Â telephone service level | Two to four hours |
| Email enquiries | Two to four hours |
*Please note that our working hours are from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday.
If you have further questions regarding trust accounting and safety, do not hesitate to contact us.