Law Practice Essentials

Rule 6.1-3 of the Code sets out the activities you must not permit non-lawyer staff to do, including:

• accept cases on behalf of the lawyer, except that a non-lawyer may receive instructions from established clients if the supervising lawyer approves before any work commences;
  
• give legal advice;
• exercise judgment in giving or accepting undertakings or accept trust conditions, except at the direction of and under the supervision of a lawyer responsible for the legal matter, providing that, in any communications, the fact that the person giving or accepting the undertaking or accepting the trust condition is a non-lawyer is disclosed, the capacity of the person is indicated and the lawyer who is responsible for the legal matter is identified;
• act finally without reference to the lawyer in matters involving professional legal judgment;
• be held out as a lawyer;
• appear in court or actively participate in formal legal proceedings on behalf of a client except as set forth above, in a supporting role to the lawyer appearing in such proceedings or authorized by law or the Rules of Court;
• be remunerated on a sliding scale related to the earnings of the lawyer, unless the non-lawyer is an employee of the lawyer;
• conduct negotiations with third parties, other than routine negotiations if the client consents and the results of the negotiation are approved by the supervising lawyer before action is taken;
• take instructions from clients, unless the supervising lawyer has directed the client to the non-lawyer for that purpose and the instructions are relayed to the lawyer as soon as reasonably possible;
• sign correspondence containing a legal opinion;
• sign correspondence, unless it is of a routine administrative nature, the non-lawyer has been specifically directed to sign the correspondence by a supervising lawyer, the fact the person is a non-lawyer is disclosed and the capacity in which the person signs the correspondence is indicated;
• forward to a client or third party any documents, other than routine, standard form documents, except with the lawyer’s knowledge and direction;
• perform any of the duties that only lawyers may perform or do things that lawyers themselves may not do; or
• set fees. (Rule 6.1-3 of the Code)

Non-lawyer staff are also prohibited from appearing in court or actively participating in legal proceedings on behalf of a client (section 106(1)(b) of the Legal Profession Act), except in a support role to the lawyer appearing at the proceedings authorized by law, the Court of Justice Act or the Alberta Rules of Court.