Perhaps you’re a newly called lawyer or you’ve recently started practicing in a new area of law? Maybe you’re faced with a particularly vexing issue or you simply want to keep your legal knowledge up-to-date?
Whatever your professional development needs are, we have resources to help you find the information that you’re looking for.
LESA seminar papers provide insight into specific questions, issues, and topics that you encounter in your practice.
There are several ways that you can discover the resource that’s right for you.
1) Search by seminar name
Visit our Educational Resources – Seminar Papers webpage and enter the seminar name in the “Search By Seminar” field to find resources you know you missed.
Most seminar papers presented at LESA programs are subsequently available for individual purchase. If you missed our 4th Annual Law and Practice Update back in November, for example, you can still benefit from the presenter’s wealth of knowledge by accessing their seminar papers:
All Things Joint
Patricia L. Daunais QC
Attracting and Retaining Employees in a Law Firm Environment
Catina Aronson
Attracting, Advising, and Serving Small Business Clients and Corporations
Andrea Riccio
Diminished Capacity for Solicitors – Black, White, and a Lot of Grey
F. Murray Pritchard
Getting People Out
Deni Cashin
Law Office Finances
Anthony G. Young QC
Law Office Security
Richard A. Verhaeghe, Jocelyn A. Frazer, David J. Bilinsky
Taking Law Office Technology to the Next Level/Practicing Law on a Mac
Richard A. Verhaeghe, David J. Bilinsky
The Intersection of Family, Real Estate, and Wills and Estates
Darryl A. Aarbo, Jocelyn A. Frazer, F. Murray Pritchard
Although the Law and Practice program is targeted towards sole practitioners and small firm lawyers, other practitioners can benefit from these great resources as well. If you practice in the wills and estates area, consider reading Diminished Capacity for Solicitors – Black, White, and a Lot of Grey, which addresses estate litigation issues surrounding individuals with diminished capacity. For family law practitioners, Getting People Out examines the legal process involved when a relationship breaks down and one party must be removed from the home.
2) Search by practice area
Visit lesa.org, select your practice area from the left-hand navigation bar, and explore available papers applicable to your particular practice.
For example, in the “Recent Seminar Papers” section of our Criminal Law webpage, you’ll find the popular Criminal Advocacy – Trial Strategy paper that Karen Hewitt presented in April 2014. This paper provides criminal defense lawyers valuable, detailed pointers to help you prepare effectively for trial by utilizing a systematic focus to help improve case analysis, issue identification, and response strategy.
In addition to searching by major practice areas, you can also search for general skills and knowledge resources, which provide useful information to practitioners regardless of your practice area. Resources specific to legal support staff can also be explored.
3) Search by author
Visit lesa.org and enter the author’s name in the “Search our Catalogue” field (upper right).
Let’s say your colleagues tell you about a particularly useful paper, and they identify the paper by its author: Tracy Hanson, for example. Simply type “Hanson” into the search field on our main webpage and you’ll find all of that author’s papers.
In this case, you’ll discover the Transfer of Farm Property – The Tax Rules paper that Hanson presented at the Family Farm Issues seminar in May 2014. This paper provides an overview of tax rules – namely the rollover rules and capital gains exemptions – explores how to utilize these rules, discusses the issues that can arise, and includes 3 precedent situations and their resolutions.
4) Search all available papers
Visit our Educational Resources – Seminar Papers webpage, scroll to the bottom of the recent seminar papers listing, and select the “View All Results” link.
If you just want to peruse the papers that we have available this will show you all the options, including the fantastic papers we’ve discussed above and many other valuable resources.
Of course, if you can’t find what you’re looking for, you can always call our main line (780.420.1987 or toll free in Alberta at 1.800.282.3900). We’re happy to point you in the right direction.
