On May 2, 2016, following a brief consultation, the Law Society announced the introduction of a proposed Trust Transaction Fee (TTF). After receiving feedback from the profession, the Benchers passed a resolution to suspend implementation, pending further consultation with the profession. This was communicated in an eBulletin to the profession on May 20, 2016.

In fall 2016, the Law Society undertook a more comprehensive consultation process with Alberta lawyers and brought new alternatives to the TTF proposal forward. The consultation gave us an opportunity to engage lawyers across the province, gather more information, identify additional challenges and opportunities, and help make more informed decisions about our work in trust safety funding.

On February 2, the Law Society’s senior management provided an update to the Benchers on the outcomes of our trust safety funding consultation. The Benchers advised that we continue our research to better understand the impact of how we might fund our operations in the future.

Further, as the TTF was not implemented, lawyers should not be collecting this fee from clients as no changes have been made to the way we fund our operations. We are committed to engaging the profession as we continue to explore alternative funding approaches. We will provide updates to the profession as this work evolves.

If you have questions or concerns about alternative funding models for the Law Society, contact feedback@lawsociety.ab.ca

When completing a file to file transfer, the requirements are different based on whether the transfer of funds is between files for the same client or between files for different clients.

Transfer of trust funds between files of the same client:

As per Rule 119.25, a transfer document must be signed by a lawyer showing the date of transfer, source file, destination file and amount of transfer. The purpose of this transfer document is to act as confirmation that the lawyer is aware of and approves of the trust transfer.  It is to be signed by the lawyer prior to or concurrently with the transfer. As such, signing of the monthly matter to matter transfer journal does not meet this requirement since this journal is produced at month end, after the transfer has already taken place.

Transfer of trust funds between files of different clients:

As above, a transfer document signed by a lawyer showing the date of transfer, source file, destination file and amount of transfer is required. In addition, Rule 119.21(3)(a)(ii) requires client authorization for the withdrawal of funds out of a client’s file.  As such, the law firm is also required to maintain written client authorization for transfers out of a client’s file into another client’s file.  This written client authorization could be in the form of a direction to pay signed by the client authorizing the law firm to transfer funds to another client.