Articling Program

Overview

Alberta Justice has a diverse and comprehensive articling program. It gives students extensive opportunities for:

courtroom experience
legal research and writing
assisting client government departments

Articling opportunities

We will hire up to 22 articling students and one court student for the 2025-26 articling year. All articling positions have been filled for 2024-25.

Most positions will be in the Edmonton or Alberta Crown Prosecution Service regional offices. Articling positions in Calgary are limited to 2 or 3 positions.

We offer 3 streams of articles:

1. Alberta Crown Prosecution Service (ACPS) regional-focused positions
Students working in ACPS regional offices will have a prosecutions-focused article with extensive:
- courtroom experience
- research and legal writing
Students are placed among 13 regional ACPS offices:
- Calgary Rural and Regional Response Office
- Edmonton Rural and Regional Response Office
- Fort McMurray
- Fort Saskatchewan
- Grande Prairie
- Hinton
- Lethbridge
- Medicine Hat
- Peace River
- Red Deer
- Slave Lake
- St. Paul
- Wetaskiwin
ACPS will also give students an opportunity to remotely assist appellate counsel at all levels of court and with drafting memoranda.
ACPS will make its best effort to give students in this stream an opportunity to complete a portion of their articles with a Legal Services Division (LSD) team for a period of 4 weeks.
2. Legal Services Division (LSD) civil positions
Two students will be placed in Edmonton and will complete an article rotating through 4 of the following 13 teams:
- Central services legal team
- Constitutional and aboriginal law team
- Energy law team
- Environmental law team
- Health law team
- Infrastructure/Transportation and Economic Corridors legal team
- Jobs and immigration legal team
- Justice/Public Safety and Emergency Services legal team
- Labour and employment legal team
- Legislative Counsel Office
- Municipal Affairs/Education/Service Alberta legal team
- People and communities legal team
- Trade, innovation, post-secondary legal team
Students will also rotate through one of the 3 litigation teams:
- civil litigation
- Family and Surrogate Court litigation - family law
- Family and Surrogate Court litigation - Office of the Public Guardian and Trustee
Students can expect to provide legal and related strategic advice and services including:
- writing legal opinions
- drafting documents
- negotiating advice and assistance
- preparing legislative proposals
- providing advice with respect to government policy and legislative proposals and projects
3. Combined ACPS and LSD positions
Up to 8 students and one court student will be placed in Edmonton or Calgary and will gain experience by working in ACPS (criminal law) and LSD (civil law) teams including:
- prosecutions
- criminal appeals
- civil litigation
- Family and Surrogate Court litigation
- an optional rotation through another team in Alberta Justice
Students can expect to:
- give legal and related strategic advice and services, including:
  - writing legal opinions and memorandums of law
  - drafting documents
- gain courtroom experience in all levels of court

Eligibility

All applicants must possess a valid Alberta driver’s license.

Successful candidates will have demonstrated:

academic excellence
superior advocacy skills
eligibility to article in Alberta for the 2025-26 articling year

Previous government experience is considered an asset.

The Government of Alberta is committed to a diverse public service workforce that reflects the qualities and differences of the broader population it serves. The Government of Alberta is equally committed to an inclusive workplace that welcomes, respects and values the diversity of employees and supports them to actively engage in the workplace and achieve their full potential.

How to apply

Applications close: May 21, 2024
Salary: $74,999.91 per annum

Step 1. Gather your documents

All applicants must possess a valid Alberta driver’s license.

Applications must include all of the following information:

Academic transcripts for undergraduate or pre-law and law school grades
- Unofficial transcripts are acceptable, though photocopies of official transcripts may be requested.
- For law schools outside of Canada, we strongly recommend you provide grade equivalency information from your academic institution.
- If academic excellence cannot be assessed based on information you provide, your application may not be considered.
Cover letter
- maximum one page, no less than 12 pt. font
- must describe your interest in articling with Alberta Justice
- must state and rank your preferred articling work locations
  - ACPS regional - various locations
  - combined ACPS and LSD - Edmonton or Calgary
  - LSD - civil
- if applying for an ACPS regional office
  - You must state and rank the regional office location(s).
Resume

Step 2. Apply

Apply online at the viLawPortal.

If you cannot apply online, email [email protected] for instructions.

Step 3. Interviews

Only individuals selected for interviews will be contacted.

First interviews will be held June 3 and June 4, 2024.
Second interviews will be held June 6 and June 7, 2024.
Interviews will be conducted via video or telephone conference.

Candidates selected for interviews will be asked to rank, in order of preference, the office location(s) where they are prepared to work.

Final candidates will be asked to undergo a security screening.

Contact

Connect with the articling program:
Email: [email protected]

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