Pro Bono Clinics/Organizations
BLG Business Venture Clinic (Calgary)
Have legal questions about your new business? Students at the BLG Venture Clinic can draft memos on topics such as early round financing, the pros and cons of different business structures, employment issues, intellectual property and possible sources of liability.
Calgary Legal Guidance
Calgary Legal Guidance provides legal information and advice to low-income people who cannot afford a lawyer and do not qualify for Legal Aid. It can help with a wide range of issues including, but not limited to, family, criminal and civil issues. Free legal clinics operate Monday through Thursday evenings.
Central Alberta Community Legal Clinic – Red Deer
The Central Alberta Community Legal Clinic provides free legal services to people who do not qualify for Legal Aid and who cannot afford a lawyer. It can help with a wide range of issues including, but not limited to, family, civil, criminal, wills, and immigration law. Service is provided through appointments booked in advance and legal advice is not given over the phone.
Edmonton Community Legal Centre
The Edmonton Community Legal Centre provides free legal information and advice to low to moderate income people in the Edmonton area who cannot afford a lawyer and do not qualify for Legal Aid. It can help with legal issues including family law, landlord and tenant matters, employment, human rights, debt, small claims, immigration and income supports. ECLC does not provide services for criminal matters.
Grande Prairie Legal Guidance
Grande Prairie Legal Guidance provides free legal information and advice to low to moderate income people who have a legal issue but do not qualify for legal aid. It can help with matters including family law, landlord and tenant matters, employment, debt/contract, traffic/bylaw, wills and estates, criminal law and civil law. GPLG does not provide representation in court.
Lethbridge Legal Guidance
Lethbridge Legal Guidance provides free legal assistance, information, and advocacy to individuals experiencing financial difficulties who need legal services and representation and who do not qualify for Legal Aid. Volunteer lawyers provide legal information and advice on a variety of issues including family, civil matters, employment law, criminal law and immigration law. Free clinics operate on Tuesday evenings.
Medicine Hat Legal Help Centre
The Medicine Hat Legal Help Centre provides free information and advice to low to moderate incoming people who have a legal issue but do not qualify for Legal Aid. It can help with matters including family law, employment issues, debt and foreclosure, estate and administration, estate/life planning, immigration issues, landlord and tenant disputes and civil matters.
Public Interest Law Clinic – University of Calgary
The Public Interest Law Clinic is a legal clinic at the University of Calgary Faculty of Law, created to advocate for systemic change that values and advances the well-being of the public and the environment
Student Legal Assistance – Calgary
Student Legal Assistance offers legal information and representation to low-income residents of the Calgary area. These services are provided by law students from the University of Calgary. SLA helps with civil matters, criminal offenses, landlord/tenant matters, traffic violations, family matters (except divorce), small claims, social assistance/AISH/employment insurance appeals, student academic and non-academic appeals and administrative tribunal work.
Student Legal Services – Edmonton
Student Legal Services is a student-managed organization dedicated to helping low-income individuals in the Edmonton area understand their legal issues and solve their problems. It can assist with matters including criminal law, civil law and family law.
Women’s Centre Legal Advice Clinic
Volunteer lawyers provide free, half-hour legal advice sessions to women. These sessions aim to provide a starting point when accessing the legal system. The clinics address family issues, civil cases, immigration and other types of law, but not criminal law. All women are welcome; appointments required.
Youth Law at The Alex – Calgary
CLERC offers legal advice, information, representation, referrals and services to children and youth. Lawyers at CLERC provide representation to young people 19 years of age and under in matters including family issues, immigration, estates and inheritance, employment questions, landlord and tenant matters, human rights issues, school issues and guardianship questions. CLERC does not represent young people involved in criminal matters or those who access legal services through Child Welfare.
Legal Aid
Legal Aid Alberta
Legal Aid Alberta provides legal representation to Albertans who meet financial eligibility guidelines. All youth are eligible to receive representation for criminal matters. Legal Aid provides coverage for serious criminal charges, family law issues, child welfare matters, immigration/refugee claims, adult guardianship/trusteeship, and income support. Please note that Legal Aid does not currently provide support for many civil law matters including personal injury, medical malpractice, etc.
Provincial & Federal Government Links
Alberta Justice – Service Alberta: Law & Justice
Alberta Justice – Family Law Assistance
Family court and mediation, family law kits, and how to respond to a Divorce Act or Family Law Act application.
Alberta Justice – Resolution and Court Administration Services (RCAS)
- Divorce Videos – RCAS has created a series of divorce videos to help respond to the demand from Albertans wanting to work on their own divorce but needing help to navigate the forms and process.
Lawyer Directory
The Law Society of Alberta’s online Lawyer Directory is available to help Albertans find a lawyer. The Lawyer Directory allows people to search for a lawyer using a series of criteria, including location, area(s) of practice, language(s) spoken, gender and whether a lawyer offers limited scope retainers.
The Lawyer Directory provides contact information for all lawyers in Alberta, and there are approximately 7,500 lawyers in private practice. Using the available filters, you can easily pull a list of lawyers that meet your specific search criteria. Please note that the Law Society does not recommend or endorse individual lawyers. It is still up to the public to research and choose a lawyer based on their individual needs.
Access the Lawyer Directory and further resources on how to use the tool through Here.
Lawyer Locate
Lawyer Locate is a directory of lawyers grouped by major practice areas. It also offers a lawyer referral service which will send your case details to the lawyers in your geographic area and the area of law that you require.
Lexpert Directory
The Lexpert Directory allows members of the public to search for specific lawyers by name and practice area.
Legal Resources
Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre (ACLRC)
The ACLRC promotes respect for civil liberties and human rights in Alberta through research and education to contribute to a more just community. Among other activities, ACLRC provides information and referrals to members of the public who call with questions about civil liberties and human rights.
Alberta Law Libraries
Alberta Law Libraries is a provincial network of law libraries existing to provide research support and information services to the legal community, self-represented litigants and all Albertans. Libraries are located in courthouses and provincial building across the province and are open to the public.
The Alberta Limited Legal Services Project
The Alberta Limited Legal Services Project is an initiative of local lawyers aimed at providing Albertans with access to the legal services they want, when they want them, at a price they can afford. The Project connects Albertans with lawyers who will help with just part of a case, not all of it, allowing you to pay for the services you want, without having a lawyer handle the case from beginning to end.
Canadian Legal Information Institute (CanLII)
CanLII is a non-profit organization that operates and maintains a website dedicated to providing continuous access to a virtual library of Canadian legal information. The present website provides access to court judgements, tribunal decisions, statutes and regulations from all Canadian jurisdictions.
Centre for Public Legal Education of Alberta (CPLEA)
CPLEA is dedicated to making information about the law available in readable and understandable language for Albertans. It maintains a number of websites with legal information in many areas.
LawNow Magazine
Published by the Centre for Public Legal Education of Alberta, LawNow Magazine is published six times per year. It provides credible legal information, interpretation and comment to help Canadians make critical decisions about their professional and personal lives, and make meaningful and effective contributions to the democratic life of their community and country.
Legal Line
Legal Line is a federal not-for-profit organization providing access to the laws under which Canadians are governed. It is a searchable database of Canadian laws that provides answers organized within 40 major areas of law in 107 languages. It also offers a telephone help line that provides pre-recorded answers to common legal questions and live help by subject-matter experts.
Self Counsel Press
Self-Counsel Press is a source of do-it-yourself law and small business books, with book, e-books and form kits designed for members of the public to help themselves. It includes kits and information on making a will, pre-nuptial, separation and divorce forms, business forms, and more.
Law Related Organizations
Alberta Law Foundation
The Alberta Law Foundation is the recipient of the interest which banks, credit unions, trust companies and treasury branches must pay on clients’ funds held in lawyers’ general trust accounts. The interest is made available by the Foundation by way of grants to organizations engaged in activities which are considered to be in keeping with the Foundation’s objectives.
Canadian Bar Association – Alberta Branch (CBA Alberta)
The CBA is the largest professional association for lawyers in Canada. It provides professional development and networking opportunities for Alberta lawyers. The CBA Alberta is not the professional regulator of lawyers in Alberta.
Canadian Forum on Civil Justice (CFCJ)
The CFCJ is a national non-profit organization that has been dedicated to advancing civil justice reform through research and advocacy since 1998. CFCJ strives to make the civil justice system for accessible, effective and sustainable by leading and participating in projects that place the citizen at the center of the civil justice system.
Federation of Law Societies of Canada
The Federation of Law Societies of Canada is the national coordinating body of the 14 law societies mandated by provincial and territorial law to regulate Canada’s 125,000 lawyers, Quebec’s 3,800 notaries and Ontario’s 10,500 independent paralegals in the public interest.
Law Society of Alberta
The Law Society of Alberta regulates the legal profession in the public interest by promoting and enforcing a high standard of professional and ethical conduct by Alberta lawyers. The Law Society can assist members of the public with finding a lawyer, finding files and wills, and answering questions about lawyer conduct.
Pro Bono Students Canada (PBSC)
Pro Bono Students Canada is a national network of law schools and community organizations that match law students and non-governmental organizations, government agencies, tribunals and legal clinics during the academic year. PBSC has chapters at the Faculties of Law at the University of Calgary and University of Alberta.
