News and Announcements

The Honourable Karan Shaner will be sworn in as a Justice of the Court of Appeal of Alberta on Friday, February 7, 2025, at 4:00 p.m. in Courtroom 317 at the Law Courts Building, 1A Sir Winston Churchill Square, Edmonton, Alberta.

The current agreement between the Government of Alberta and the Alberta Union of Provincial Employees includes a provision for Christmas closure. The Court of Appeal of Alberta will be closed from December 24, 2024, to January 1, 2025, inclusive. On December 30 and 31, 2024, the Court of Appeal will hear only emergency applications. Any material that would ordinarily be filed on those days can be filed on January 2, 2025. Should an emergency matter need to be heard, parties may contact 780-643-1137 and the appropriate arrangements will be made to hear the matter.

The Honourable Kent Davidson will be sworn in as Chief Justice of the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta today at 4:00 p.m. in Courtroom 317 at the Law Courts Building, 1A Sir Winston Churchill Square, Edmonton, Alberta.

The Honourable Joshua B. Hawkes will be sworn in as a Justice of the Court of Appeal of Alberta on Friday, September 13, 2024, at 4:00 p.m. in Courtroom 1801 at the Calgary Courts Centre, 601 – 5th Street SW, Calgary, AB.

Effective September 1, 2024, all panel decisions from this court will be titled Memorandum of Judgment. The practice of naming some decisions Reasons for Judgment Reserved will no longer be used. This change does not affect the procedures for reconsideration set out in Rules 14.46 and 14.72.

Effective September 3, 2024, in advance of any appearance before a judge or a panel of the Court, counsel and self-represented parties will be invited to provide information such as their preferred names, titles (e.g., Ms, Mrs, Mr, Mx, Counsel, Dr) and name pronunciation if they want to do so. Counsel will also be invited to provide the same information for their clients.

In a Notice to the Profession and Public issued April 13, 2023, the Court announced amendments to the Civil Appeal Rules (Part 14 of the Alberta Rules of Court) to incorporate the existing filing and formatting requirements for documents electronically filed in CAMS, to remove references to paper documents, and to make other minor housekeeping changes. Similar amendments have been made to the Criminal Appeal Rules in Part 16 of the Alberta Rules of Court. Details of the amendments are attached.

The induction ceremonies honouring the 2024 King’s Counsel recipients will take place as shown in this notice.

Court of Appeal of Alberta swearing-in ceremonies will take place as follows

The 2025 Court of Appeal sitting dates are attached.

The May 2024 Court sitting dates are amended so that the Sentence Appeal Hearings in Edmonton and Calgary commence on Wednesday, May 22, 2024 instead of Tuesday May 21, 2024.

In light of the significant concerns surrounding the potential fabrication of legal authorities through large language models (LLMs)1, this Notice addresses the matter of legal references in submissions to the courts. Our joint commitment to reinforcing the integrity and credibility of legal proceedings is critical. Caution: The Court of Appeal of Alberta, Court of King’s Bench of Alberta, and Alberta Court of Justice urge practitioners and litigants to exercise caution when referencing legal authorities or analysis derived from LLMs in their submissions.

Induction ceremonies for the 2020 and 2022 King’s Counsel recipients were deferred due to COVID. We are pleased to announce that the Courts are now proceeding with formal ceremonies honouring members of Alberta Bar who were appointed King’s Counsel in 2020 and 2022

Justice Marina Paperny swearing out ceremony.

The Honourable Chief Justice Ritu Khullar is pleased to welcome three new justices to the Alberta Court of Appeal: The Honourable Justice William deWit in Calgary, The Honourable Justice April Grosse in Calgary, and The Honourable Justice Jane Fagnan in Edmonton.