The Law is All Around Us: A Case for Public Legal Education and Information.

Date01 March 2023
AuthorTremblay, Nathalie

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Greater legal capability--the ability to understand and use legal information--helps people to learn the right vocabulary, formulate questions, decide on next steps, decide who to talk to, etc.

Learning about the law is not just something you do when confronted with a serious legal issue. Personal legal capability is about awareness, citizenship, human rights, social engagement and having the confidence to advocate for yourself when you have to. This article will introduce the readers to the work of the Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta (CPLEA) and its efforts to increase Albertans' access to justice by developing free accessible resources about the laws that are all around us--from everyday legal issues to more significant matters.

About CPLEA: the importance of a name

CPLEA is a non-profit organization that has been active in Alberta for almost 50 years! First introduced as the Legal Resource Centre, a decision was made by its board in 2012 to start operating as the "Centre for Public Legal Education Alberta". The new name was deemed to better reflect the identity and purpose of the organization. It also obviously signals that its main goal is to serve the general public. It is very important for an organization devoted to increasing Albertan's "legal literacy" with plain language information to present itself clearly.

What do we mean by legal literacy?

In the Public Legal Education (PLE) field, the concept of legal literacy is mostly referred to as legal "capability". This is a fairly new addition to the PLE vocabulary describing the basic legal competencies and awareness that everyone should have. Meaning, the ability to understand and...

To continue reading

Request your trial

Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial

Transform your legal research with vLex

  • Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform

  • Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues

  • Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options

  • Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions

  • Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms

  • Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations

vLex

Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial

Transform your legal research with vLex

  • Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform

  • Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues

  • Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options

  • Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions

  • Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms

  • Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations

vLex

Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial

Transform your legal research with vLex

  • Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform

  • Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues

  • Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options

  • Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions

  • Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms

  • Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations

vLex

Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial

Transform your legal research with vLex

  • Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform

  • Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues

  • Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options

  • Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions

  • Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms

  • Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations

vLex

Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial

Transform your legal research with vLex

  • Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform

  • Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues

  • Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options

  • Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions

  • Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms

  • Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations

vLex

Unlock full access with a free 7-day trial

Transform your legal research with vLex

  • Complete access to the largest collection of common law case law on one platform

  • Generate AI case summaries that instantly highlight key legal issues

  • Advanced search capabilities with precise filtering and sorting options

  • Comprehensive legal content with documents across 100+ jurisdictions

  • Trusted by 2 million professionals including top global firms

  • Access AI-Powered Research with Vincent AI: Natural language queries with verified citations

vLex

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT