What We Do

In Alberta you only have 6 months from the date of invoice to review and dispute any fees charged to you. If you have signed a retainer agreement, you have 6 months from the date it has ended.

Disbursements are payments Lawyers make to third parties on your behalf. Some examples of disbursements are long-distance telephone charges, courier charges, travel expenses, Land Titles Office fees, Corporate Registry fees, transcripts, court filing fees, process services fees, surveys, search and certificate fees, and generally any other payments made to third parties.

A retainer agreement is a contract between a lawyer and their client that defines the future services to be provided in exchange for an advance payment (retainer fee). These contracts often list the fees a lawyer may charge, the expectations around communications and explain what will happen if either party terminates the relationship. Your retainer fee will go into a trust account, lawyers will then apply their bill to the account and withdrawal funds as they complete their work.

Lawyers maintain a separate bank account for money they hold in trust for their clients. The account is designated as a trust account.

The Alberta Law Society has established very strict standards for lawyer’s trust accounts. Trust accounts are audited annually by a professional accountant and the result of the audit are reported to the Law Society. The Law Society also conducts spot audits.

In most cases, the interest on trust accounts goes to the Law Foundation of Alberta and is used for law reform and public legal education. However, if a large sum of money is to be held in trust for an extended period, a specific interest-bearing trust account can be opened for the money, with the interest payable to the client.