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THE WEST Alberta gets Rules of Court update after 42 years 1. Peter J.M. Lown, director of the Alberta Law Reform Institute, says, "The old rules were out of date and difficult to use. The new rules are modern and include technologies that weren't around back in 1968." According to ALRI's "Rules A of Court Project: Final Report No. 95" dated October 2008, which proposed the revised rules: "The existing rules were enacted in 1968. They were heav- ily based on previous versions and many rules [were] directly traceable to 1914. Much has changed since 1968. Alberta has an entirely new court structure. The Court of Queen's Bench, Court of Appeal, and the Provincial Court were created after the 1968 rules came into force. New concepts and initiatives have grown up and the volume and culture of litigation have changed immensely over 40 years." What do the new Rules of Court mean in practice? Chief Justice Neil Wittmann, chairman of the Rules of Court Project, says: "We have joined the lead jurisdic- tions in Canada in the modernization of the rules. I expect the bench and the bar will co-operate to ensure that imple- mentation is a positive experience for everyone including the public." The Alberta Civil Trial Lawyers Association's president, James M. Kalyta, says his group supports any measures to improve the accessibility and administra- tion of justice. However, Kalyta says from an actual practice standpoint, many of the association's members have concerns fter 42 years, Alberta will finally have new Rules of Court on Nov. objectives. "Effective dispute resolution is a critical aspect of creating fair and modern laws for Albertans," says Lown. ALRI, which delivers law about the new Rule 4.33 and its associ- ated transition period. "Many lawyers are concerned that the decrease of the time period from five years to two years has the potential to diminish the access to justice for many plaintiff litigants, and result in administrative difficulties for lawyers with plaintiff practices." Lown says the new rules are in plain English — they say what they mean, and mean what they say. "The rules are arranged in a logical, chronological order that reflects the progress of a lawsuit. Fundamental premises are at the begin- ning and technical rules at the end. The rules include introductions to each part, information notes to assist the reader, and cross-references to related topics." The four objectives of the new rules are to maximize clarity, usability, effective- ness, and advancement of justice system Final Report No. 95 can be found here www.law.ualberta. ca/alri/docs/FR95.pdf reform proposals through specific projects, undertook the Rules of Court Project six years ago. The project involved 11 groups, composed of 110 people including many judges and lawyers, and logged over 30,000 hours of volunteer time. The $2.6-million project was funded by the Department of Justice, the Alberta Law Foundation, the Law Society of Alberta, and ALRI. The project goal was to create rules that are clear, useful, and effective tools for assessing a fair, timely, and cost- efficient civil justice system. The rules are short (arranged and written in plain English); clear (describe a logical step-by- step process for carrying out a lawsuit); and user-friendly (a single, comprehen- sive, consistent code of court procedure). — DIANE L.M. COOK dianecook@shaw.ca Experienced Professional Client-Focused A full service, bilingual law firm in New Brunswick, serving clients in Atlantic Canada and beyond. 1-888-743-4226 Saint John, NB Moncton, NB www.barryspalding.com Untitled-2 1 www. C ANADIAN Law ye rmag.com OC T OBER 2010 9 9/23/10 11:48:31 AM