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- Practice Fundamentals Program
The Practice Fundamentals Program (the Program) is an exciting new learning opportunity geared toward new Alberta lawyers (i.e. those who first gain active status with the Law Society of Alberta in 2024 and later). The Program supports new lawyers through the development of skills critical to legal practice.
New lawyers (i.e. those who first gain active status with the Law Society of Alberta in 2024 and later), can access the Program at no cost, as we hope that by removing financial barriers, more new lawyers will take advantage of this valuable learning opportunity.
Select courses from the new Program are also available to more experienced lawyers at a minimal cost. This can benefit lawyers who might be returning to practice, or those who simply want to refresh their knowledge or explore new areas of interest.
In addition to the Practice Fundamentals Program, the Law Society website has other information and resources available to assist new lawyers.
Registration
New lawyers can register for the Program on the LESA website and more experienced lawyers can purchase individual courses. Before accessing Program courses, lawyers will need to create a LESA.org account
Visit the LESA website for full details on how to register for and access the Program.
Program Content
The Law Society of Alberta and the Legal Education Society of Alberta (LESA), along with other subject matter experts, developed the Program for new lawyers to provide consistency in fundamental skills for lawyers early in their careers.
Course content aligns with the Professional Development Profile, which sets the foundation for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in Alberta. This makes the Program a seamless fit when planning CPD learning activities.
The Program is organized into seven domains aligning with the Professional Development Profile:
- Legal Practice
- Professional Conduct
- Lawyer-Client Relationships
- Practice Management
- Cultural Competency & Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
- Truth and Reconciliation
- Well-Being
The Practice Fundamentals Program provides the flexibility to decide what, how and when to learn. The Program is separated into individual courses, so lawyers can access as little or as much content as they’d like.
Each course takes between one to three hours to complete. Courses are delivered in a variety of formats, including self-directed learning, webinars and workshops so lawyers can choose what works best for them. All content is delivered online to ensure that lawyers from anywhere in Alberta have equal access.
The Program will be gradually rolled out over the next several years with new courses added each year. Beginning in September 2024, the courses offered are as follows:
- Legal Practice
- Effective Legal Writing (3-hour live virtual workshop in November 2024; registration now open with limited enrolment)
- Drafting Effective Contracts (2-hour self-study course)
- Drafting Effective Pleadings and Affidavits (2-hour self-study course)
- Drafting Effective Legal Memos and Letters (2-hour self-study course)
- Professional Conduct
- Introduction to the Code of Conduct (2-hour self-study course)
- Civility and Building Relationships (1-hour live webinar in March 2025; registration now open)
- Practice Management
- Effective Time and Email Management (3-hour recorded webinar)
Additional Information
New lawyers can also access other LESA programming at a significant discount or no cost. This includes:
- Five free on-demand programs (recordings of past presentations) from LESA’s extensive collection. This includes on-demand programs from LESA’s Practice Foundations Series, covering foundational substantive law principles relating to a variety of practice areas.
- Access to other complimentary on-demand programs offered by LESA, including the Career Development Series.
- A 25 per cent discount on:
- Select LESA programs, including in-person, livestream, and webinar programs.
- LESA on-demand programs from the Practice Foundations Series.
- An annual single-user LESA Library subscription. More information on the LESA Library can be found here.
- Access to a LinkedIn discussion group to discuss course materials, share ideas and network with other lawyers.
In 2019, the Law Society, in partnership with the law societies of Saskatchewan and Manitoba, conducted a survey of articling students. The survey results identified a number of issues, including inconsistency in competencies learned during articling and how prepared students felt for entry-level practice; challenges relating to the quality of mentorship and feedback; and a high rate of students and new lawyers who experienced discrimination and harassment.
In response to the 2019 articling survey, the Law Society engaged well-known legal analyst Jordan Furlong to conduct a review of lawyer licensing and education in Alberta compared to other jurisdictions. That led to the Lawyer Licensing and Competence Report setting out recommendations for lawyer licensing and competence in Alberta, one of which included development of the Practice Fundamentals Program.
Both the survey results and the report highlighted the importance of offering accessible CPD opportunities to new lawyers.
Completing annual Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is an important part of a lawyer’s professional obligations, and also benefits the lawyer, their law firm or organization and their clients.
Each year, Alberta lawyers are required to submit a CPD plan using the CPD Tool, selecting competencies for professional development that are meaningful to them and their practice. The Practice Fundamentals Program is an easy and effective way for new lawyers to meet their CPD obligations. Course content aligns with the Professional Development Profile, which sets the foundation for CPD in Alberta.
More information about CPD and the CPD Tool is available on the Law Society website.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Practice Fundamentals Program (the Program) is a new learning opportunity geared toward new Alberta lawyers. The Law Society of Alberta and the Legal Education Society of Alberta (LESA), along with other subject matter experts, developed the Program to provide consistency in fundamental skills for lawyers in entry-level practice.
The Program includes courses on building lawyer-client relationships, improving practice and file management, as well as drafting contracts, pleadings and memos, and more. Course content aligns with the Professional Development Profile, which sets the foundation for CPD in Alberta. New courses will be added regularly, launching in Sept. 2024 with seven courses as detailed above.
As the Program is aimed at new lawyers who gained active status with the Law Society in January 2024 or later, these lawyers can access the Program at no cost. For others, the cost is minimal to take select individual courses.
The 2019 Articling Survey results and Lawyer Licensing and Competence Report highlighted the importance of offering accessible CPD opportunities to new lawyers. The Law Society has worked with LESA to ensure the Program has no financial barriers for new lawyers. By removing financial barriers, we hope that more new lawyers will take advantage of this valuable learning opportunity.
No, the Program is not mandatory. However, we encourage new lawyers to participate as the Program supports the development of skills critical to legal practice.
The Program was specifically developed to support new lawyers during their early years of practice.
Courses from the Program may also benefit lawyers who are returning to practice, or those who simply want to refresh their knowledge or explore new areas of interest.
New lawyers can register for the Program on the LESA website and more experienced lawyers can purchase individual courses. Before accessing Program courses, you will need to create a LESA.org account
No, registrants of the Program are bound by LESA’s Customer Policies.
All content is delivered online to ensure that lawyers from anywhere in Alberta have equal access.
New lawyers have unlimited access to as many self-study and webinar courses as they choose to complete. Live workshop access is restricted to new lawyers and will be capped to support effective delivery.
No. The Practice Fundamentals Program provides the flexibility to decide what, how and when to learn. The Program is separated into individual courses, so lawyers can access as little or as much content as they’d like. Courses can be completed in any order and there are no pre-requisites.
The Program will be gradually rolled out over the next several years. New content will be added each year, beginning with the seven courses launched in September 2024.
Yes. The Law Society and LESA want to hear from participants so that we can continuously improve the Program. At the conclusion of each course, participants can access a brief, voluntary survey. The feedback provided will be used to fine-tune the Program and develop new content. There will also be the opportunity to provide more comprehensive feedback about the Program through periodic surveys sent to registrants.
Yes. The Practice Fundamentals Program is an easy and effective way for new lawyers to meet their CPD obligations. Course content aligns with the Professional Development Profile, which sets the foundation for CPD in Alberta. This makes the Program a seamless fit when planning CPD learning activities.
More information about the Profile and the CPD Requirements and Tool are available on the Law Society website.
In-house training by law firms or organizations is a very important part of professional development. However, some law firms and organizations lack the capacity to deliver continuous training to staff or may offer training that does not correspond to certain lawyers’ needs or interests. Ultimately, lawyers can participate in training at their own firm or organization and still find new and useful content in the Program.
LESA provides high-quality continuing education to lawyers throughout the year, both in-person and on-demand. New lawyers who register for the Program will receive:
- Five free on-demand programs (recordings of past presentations) from LESA’s extensive collection. This includes on-demand programs from LESA’s Practice Foundations Series, covering foundational substantive law principles relating to a variety of practice areas.
- Access to other complimentary on-demand programs offered by LESA, including the Career Development Series.
- A 25 per cent discount on:
- Select LESA programs, including in-person, livestream, and webinar programs.
- LESA on-demand programs from the Practice Foundations Series.
- An annual single-user LESA Library subscription. More information on the LESA Library can be found here.
- Access to a LinkedIn discussion group to discuss course materials, share ideas and network with other lawyers.
The Program is built on the LearnDash platform and has been developed in accordance with the LearnDash accessibility guidelines. For optimal accessibility, we recommend using the Chrome browser. Accessibility questions or feedback on how we can improve equal access to this website can be directed to LESA at info@lesa.org.
We welcome feedback about the Program. Questions or comments about the Program or other supports for new lawyers can be directed to the Education Team at the Law Society. Technical questions about navigating the Program or feedback about the Program content should be directed to info@lesa.org.