Alberta lawyers vote to maintain mandated CPE
Date postedFebruary 8, 2023
In October 2020, the Law Society of Alberta voted by a 2/3 majority to amend its rules to allow the Society to mandate specific continuing professional development courses. The LSA subsequently mandated a 5-hour online course about Indigenous cultural competency. The deadline was set as October 20, 2022 to complete the course, and lawyers have been suspended for noncompliance. A petition was recently established asking for the removal of the rule, caliming that lawyers have "the freedom and responsibility to determine whether a learning activity qualifies as continuing professional development." A special meeting of the LSA was called to consider the issue; the benchers voted 75% to 25% to preserve the new rule.