Legal Services

The Volunteer Lawyers Service is a special initiative of the United Way of Calgary and Area, the Canadian Bar Association Alberta, the Law Society of Alberta, and the Association of General Counsel of Alberta. It is aimed at providing eligible charitable organizations with free* legal services and advice in a range of areas such as:

• Labour and employment law
• Administrative/human rights law
• Management responsibilities
• Real estate
• Civil litigation
• Trust and estates

The services a VLS lawyer can provide you include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Preparing an application for charitable status or incorporation as a non-profit
• Addressing your staffing and employment issues
• Assessing your board's exposure to legal risks
• Exploring and addressing liability issues
• Negotiating a property purchase or lease
• Copyrighting or trademarking your intellectual property
• Drafting a privacy statement for your brochures, websites, etc.
• Reviewing by-laws
• Reviewing waivers and contracts

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE VLS CANNOT:

• Place volunteer lawyers on a Board of Directors or any other Board.
• Act for any agency or organization whose mandate is politically partisan or activist in nature. VLS lawyers cannot do any work that risks affecting the civil liberties or well-being of others.
• Act for files that are litigious. While some VLS files may eventually require litigation, VLS lawyers may only be able to assist with matters leading up to the litigation (summary advice, helping to draft a statement of claim, filing statement of claim, preparation of materials).