Long arm of U of A law looking to reach rural Alberta.

• Author: Betkowski, Ben
• Position: Reprint

At some point between birth and death, life calls for at least some legal services. But for rural Albertans, who, like their urban cousins grapple with everything from wills to business deals, vital access to a lawyer isn't a given.

That's why the University of Alberta Faculty of Law is teamed up in an ongoing collaboration with the Alberta Rural Development Network (ARDN), the University of Calgary law school and other partners including the Canadian Bar Association on the Alberta Regional and Rural Access to Justice Project. The project, started in 2011, is exploring the shortage of legal services for Albertans who live outside of the province's cities and towns--where most law firms are established.

Though bread and butter legal services may rank low in the public eye on the ladder of community must-haves, compared to something like health care, they are just as important when life events happen, says Philip Bryden, dean of the U of A Faculty of Law.

"People go without legal services, and when they go without, there are conseguences,"

Bryden said. "Lawyers are often seen as people who take up time and make processes difficult, but in fact, what we do is make it easier for people to get what they are entitled to and get a fair resolution of their problems."

The U of A plays a vital role by drawing attention to careers in regional and rural Alberta, said Paul Watson, research director for ARDN. The group is currently researching the human costs of going without legal services, as well as the financial ones. Part of the solution is to attract newly-minted lawyers to rural areas, he said. "We want to build momentum in making sure students are aware there are opportunities out there. The U of A as an educator has been actively working to make students aware of rural practice."

"Though bread and butter legal services may rank low in the public eye on the ladder of community must-haves, compared to something like health care, they are just as important when life events happen"

Without new lawyers to replace rural Alberta's "graying bar", sustainability of smaller communities suffers, creating disincentives for people to live rurally, Watson said. "There are so many commonplace issues--family matters, divorces, wills, real estate and business dealings--that call for legal expertise."

That variety is one of the things that convinced U of A law student Brittany Doucet to head for rural Alberta, where she will article with a Medicine Hat firm.

"I...