KEEPING YOU LEGALLY INFORMED

So you just received an email with a Notice to Attend Family Docket, with a court date and a link, and you have some questions about what is going to happen. Maybe this is the first time you’ve ever been to court, and you don’t have a lawyer. Maybe you want information about what could happen because you filed the Notice to Attend Family Docket. Here are some answers to some common questions people have about the process: I was sent an email, but I wasn’t served in person [...]

The answer is - lots! But we need to start at the beginning. What does it mean when a lawyer says that they offer unbundled services? In the traditional model, the client hires the lawyer who then normally looks after the client's legal issues from beginning to end. It is expected that the lawyer will look after all aspects that are related to the original reason why the client hired the lawyer in the first place. For example, if a client is charged with a criminal offense, and then the [...]

When they introduced the new SafeRoads Alberta system, the government put a lot of emphasis on how the new system would be so simple and easy to access: If passed, Alberta will create a simplified, accessible and swift system for resolving matters involving most first-time impaired driving and other traffic safety offences. By removing these matters from the court system, we will save thousands of hours of police and court time per year, ensuring Alberta’s prosecutors and courts are able focus on the most serious justice matters and more [...]

You likely missed it. There was an article about it in the Calgary Herald[1], but otherwise Covid news, and cute cats got all the attention. To be fair – the 12-week trial was all in French and so maybe most of the media missed it too. On January 10, 2022, Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Kristine Eidsvik declared that sections 286.2 and 286.3 of the Criminal Code were unconstitutional[2]. Section 286.2 made it an offence to obtain a material benefit from sex work and section 286.3 made it an [...]

If you were stopped for impaired driving, failing to provide a sample, or blowing over, you were likely given a Notice of Administrative Penalty. It’s also known as an N-A-P, also known as a NAP, also known as an Immediate Roadside Sanction, also known as an IRS… and the confusion doesn't stop there. We’re here to give you tips and tricks for how to deal with this situation. Most importantly, do not pay the fine, if you pay the fine you will be cancelling any hearing that was [...]

Normally, when couples decide to end their relationship, there are a number of ways they can do it. If there is a high level of cooperation between the two, they may be able to work everything out themselves. If there is little to no agreement, they can go through mediation, arbitration, collaborative law or go to court. During the pandemic, however, we have seen one method stand out far from the rest – Collaborative Family Law. The courts keep shutting down and adjourning cases with the result that [...]