The Legal Excellence Program - Edmonton

Articling Opportunities Across Canada

Articling Opportunities Across Canada

Prairie Region - Edmonton Office

The Prairie Region is one of six regional bases of operation in the Department of Justice Canada. Within our region, the Department of Justice maintains offices in Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, and Winnipeg.

In Edmonton, lawyers represent the federal government in a wide variety of matters affecting departments and agencies of the Government of Canada. Although our counsel regularly appear before the federal courts (Federal Court, Federal Court of Appeal, and the Tax Court of Canada) and the provincial superior courts (Court of King’s Bench of Alberta, Court of Appeal of Alberta), Justice Canada counsel are also involved in challenging and interesting solicitors’ work.

A career in the Prairie Region, Edmonton office, means working alongside experienced counsel doing groundbreaking, important work on a variety of interesting files. Some examples include:

Students in the Edmonton office can expect to work on files within all practice areas during their Justice Canada rotations, and may be involved in civil litigation, tax trials, negotiations, or judicial agreements/leases. Our students are involved in all aspects of our work and are highly valued members of our team.

General Articling Information

The Edmonton office takes its commitment to its articling students seriously by providing an exceptional articling experience, which promotes legal excellence. Whenever financially feasible, we appoint our articling students to term or permanent positions after they have successfully finished their articles. The Edmonton office has a very good record for doing so.

In Alberta, lawyers are regulated by the Law Society of Alberta (LSA). For further information, refer to their website.

During the articling year, students in Edmonton rotate through the three main sections: Civil Litigation, Indigenous Litigation and Resolution, Tax Law, and are seconded to the Public Prosecution Service of Canada for a fourth rotation.

Students receive feedback on assignments from counsel throughout each rotation. As well, a supervising lawyer is assigned for each rotation to monitor the students’ work and provide a written evaluation at the end of the rotation.

Pursuant to the rules of the Law Society of Alberta, one lawyer is assigned as the articling student’s principal throughout their articles. Alberta is the only jurisdiction in Canada in which articling students are admitted to the bar individually. The student’s principal typically makes the application to the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta seeking an order admitting the student as a member of the Alberta bar.

Students also have access to and are encouraged to participate in the National Mentoring Program.

Professional Development

Articling students attend mandatory training such as the Orientation to the Public Service Course, Orientation to the Prairie Region and an Articling Student Orientation. As part of Law Society of Alberta requirements for admission to the bar as lawyers, students also attend classes through the Canadian Centre for Professional Legal Education consisting of three week periods during their articling year. As a learning organization, the Department of Justice supports students in many other learning opportunities throughout the year within and outside the Department.

Salary and Benefits

Articling Students with the Department of Justice in Edmonton are entitled to:

How to Apply

All articling positions for the 2023-2024 period have been filled.

The Edmonton office intends to hire articling students for the 2024-2025 articling year. All applications for 2024-2025 positions must be received by our office before 5:00 p.m. MDT Thursday, May 11, 2023. . Interviews will be conducted at a time prescribed by the LSA.

This posting is open to persons residing in Canada and Canadian citizens residing abroad.

All applicants must include the following documents:

Applications that neglect to include all of the above items will be considered incomplete. Incomplete or late applications will not be considered.

All applications should be submitted by the following method:

The Department of Justice believes that to be able to effectively serve the public, its workforce needs to reflect the diversity of the Canadian population. Diversity is a great source of strength in driving Canada’s Legal Team in ensuring that Canada’s justice system is as fair, accessible and efficient as possible. The Department is committed to a representative workforce that represents the Canadian public we serve. If you are an Indigenous person, a woman, a person with a disability, a member of a racialized group* or a member of the 2SLGBTQI+**/Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression (SOGIE) community we encourage you to self-declare in this staffing process.

* Please note that this group is currently designated as members of visible minorities in the Employment Equity Act and the self-declaration form.

** 2SLGBTQI+: Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and people who identify as being part of sexual and gender diverse communities.

Applicants must demonstrate in their application that they meet the following qualifications: Statement of merit criteria and conditions of employment.

Areas of Practice

The counsel employed in Edmonton practice in the following areas of law:

Tax Law

Counsel in the tax practice area provide litigation and advisory services to the Minister of National Revenue; represent the Crown in tax – related civil proceedings; and act for Employment and Social Development Canada in Old Age Security hearings before the Tax Court throughout western Canada. Our Region is recognized for its in-depth expertise in resource taxation matters, and much of the oil and gas work in the county is handled by the Calgary office.

Litigation accounts for 80% of our work. Counsel deal with disputes concerning the assessments and reassessments of taxes by Canada Revenue Agency under the Income Tax Act, the Excise Tax Act (GST) and the Employment Insurance Act, and appear before the Tax Court of Canada; the Federal Courts of Canada in Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba; and, before the Supreme Court of Canada. Counsel also provide legal services with respect to the collection of debts owing to the Minister of National Revenue and represent the federal Crown’s interest in bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings in the superior courts of the provinces.

Students can expect to assist with pleadings, motions, trial preparation, and collection issues. They will also have the opportunity to handle or participate in out-of-court settlement negotiations. In addition, students will get practical courtroom experience and may have the opportunity to conduct an informal procedure hearing before the Tax Court of Canada.

General Civil Litigation

Counsel in this practice area provide litigation services to a wide range of federal government departments and agencies, and represent  the Attorney General of Canada in civil litigation conducted by or against various departments of the FederalCrown including:

Counsel appear in all levels of Court (Alberta Court of King’s Bench, Alberta Court of Appeal, Federal Court, Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada).

Indigenous Law

Counsel in this practice area provide legal resolution and litigation services to Crown Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs and Indigenous Services Canada . They work on complex, sensitive, and highly significant litigation files involving Indigenous rights, constitutional law, and administrative law, whether through courts, tribunals, or dispute resolution processes.  Files include substantive issues arising from Aboriginal rights and title, modern and historic treaties, the reserve creation process, the Crown’s fiduciary obligations, the Crown’s duty to consult, federal/provincial division of powers, taxation exemptions, fisheries, immigration, oil and gas, and other topics.  Aboriginal law work frequently involves novel questions of law, both on substantive and procedural issues.

Advisory Law

Counsel provide legal advisory services and support to a number of government departments, including Crown Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs , Indigenous Services Canada , Fisheries and Oceans, National Defense, Parks Canada, Public Services and Procurement Canada, Transport Canada, and Western Economic Diversification, in fulfilling their statutory and other legal obligations.  The scope of this solicitor work is broad and challenging.  A particular focus in Alberta includes support for government departments in their fulfillment of legal obligations to First Nations.  Advisory counsel manage practices that combine traditional areas of property and commercial law, contract, torts, environmental law, estates law, constitutional law, employment law, and information and privacy law with the dynamic and ever-evolving area of Indigenous law. Advisory counsel have broad expertise in facilitating such things as on-reserve economic development (gas stations, casinos, office buildings, resource extraction, etc.), reserve creation and expansion, and First Nations’ self-governance initiatives.

Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC)

For more information about the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, please visit its website.

Contact Information

For more information about student work at the Prairie Region, Edmonton Office, please contact:

Kanchana Fernando
Regional Director and General Counsel
Chair, Edmonton Articling Committee
Telephone: 780-495-5823
Fax: (780) 495-2964
E-mail Address: articlingEDM@justice.gc.ca
300 EPCOR Tower
10423 101 Street
Edmonton, AB T5H 0E7