Alberta Legal Coaches & Limited Services is a website offered by the Alberta Legal Coaches and Limited Services Society. Latitude lawyer Heather Malaryk is on the Board of this Society.
When a lawyer is hired to provide limited services or limited scope services, the lawyer agrees to complete only specific steps of a dispute or transaction rather than all of the steps. The client completes the other steps. The lawyer and client agree what the lawyer will do and what the client will do. For example, the lawyer might assist by reviewing documents written by the client before they are filed with the court. Or, the lawyer might draft documents for the client but the client will represent themselves in court. Or, the client might draft the documents but the lawyer will attend court to present the legal argument. This allows clients to obtain specific assistance on elements of their case they may be less comfortable to handle on their own. This helps the client to lower costs overall, while still benefiting from legal advice and some limited legal services.
When a lawyer is hired to provide legal coaching, they can provide ongoing information about the law and legal processes through a series of short meetings to assist a client in representing themselves in court, tribunals, negotiations, or alternate dispute resolution processes such as mediation.
The website provides a directly of lawyers in Alberta who provide limited scope legal services, resources for self-represented individuals, links to government resources available to assist with court processes, links to organizations that provide low-cost legal representation, and links to alternative dispute resolution organizations. Resources are also provided for lawyers wishing to provide limited scope services or legal coaching.