On behalf of ACTLA's Board of Directors and Executive Director:

The Alberta Civil Trial Lawyers Association (ACTLA), representing more than 350 lawyers and law firms across the province, is closely reviewing the Government of Alberta’s proposed Justice Statutes Amendment Act, 2025 (Bill 14) and the Regulated Professions Neutrality Act (Bill 13), and is raising concerns about provisions that may narrow the self‑governance of the legal profession.

Bill 14 would amend the Legal Profession Act to, among other things, adopt a statutory purpose statement for the Law Society of Alberta, grant Alberta’s Attorney General immunity from sanctions for actions performed as part of their official duties, and restrict the Law Society’s ability to require mandatory education for lawyers to core admission, certain specialized roles, and discipline‑related training. All mandatory training would also be required to comply with limitations set out in the Regulated Professions Neutrality Act.

Bill 13, the Regulated Professions Neutrality Act, would establish overarching rules governing how professional regulators govern their members, including limiting mandatory education or training to matters of professional competence and ethics, and barring regulators from mandating certain categories of training unless they meet specific statutory criteria.

“Self‑governance of the legal profession is an institutional safeguard for the public,” said ACTLA Board Chair Jillian Gamez. “Any time legislation narrows the profession’s ability to set its own standards, including educational standards, we have to carefully consider what that means for the rule of law and for public confidence in our justice system.”

By placing detailed limits in statute on what the Law Society may require and tying all mandatory education to the Regulated Professions Neutrality Act, Bill 14 would make the outer boundaries of mandatory training a matter of ongoing legislative policy rather than professional self‑regulation. Because the RPNA is a government statute of general application to all regulated professions, future governments and ministers will effectively define the scope of what Alberta’s legal regulator may and may not treat as mandatory education for lawyers.

“Today’s government may intend to exercise these powers in a restrained way,” Gamez said. “But the structure will apply equally to any future government, of any political stripe. That is why we are urging caution now: the independence of the legal profession should not depend on who holds the justice portfolio at a given moment in time.”

ACTLA notes that debates about the independence of legal regulators and the appropriate role of government are emerging elsewhere in Canada. In British Columbia, for example, the Law Society of BC and other organizations are challenging that province’s Legal Professions Act (Bill 21) on the basis that it concentrates regulatory control in a state‑designed structure and risks undermining the independence of the bar.

In Alberta, ACTLA’s concern is similarly institutional: the relationship between a self‑governing law society and the political branches of government, and ensuring that decisions about legal competence, ethics and continuing education remain insulated from partisan considerations over the long term.

“Lawyers are privileged office‑holders in our democracy,” Gamez said. “Public trust in our institutions depends on confidence that we are regulated – including educated – in a way that is independent of partisanship. When the acceptable parameters of mandatory legal education are defined in detail by statute, rather than by the profession’s self‑governing regulator, there is a real risk that future governments can use those parameters to advance ideological goals that have little to do with competence.”

ACTLA is currently studying the overall impact that Bill 14 and Bill 13 may have on its members, their clients and the administration of civil justice in Alberta. Because the specific effect of these bills on existing and future education programs will only become clear as the legislative process unfolds and any regulations are developed, the Association is reserving detailed comment on particular educational requirements at this time.

The Association encourages the Minister of Justice, the Law Society of Alberta, and other stakeholders to work together to ensure that any legislative changes preserve the independence of the legal profession, uphold the rule of law, and maintain public confidence in Alberta’s civil justice system.