April 17 is Charter of Rights Day in Canada. Yesterday marked the 42nd anniversary of the Charter’s signing. We acknowledge the crucial role that roster lawyers play in upholding the rights enshrined in this fundamental part of our nation’s Constitution.
We also celebrate our Justice of the Peace Bail team, who work seven days a week to uphold Albertans’ rights under section 11(e) of the Charter—the right to reasonable bail. We are proud of the exceptional work that our bail lawyers do, and we offer them our recognition and thanks on this anniversary.
Legal Aid Alberta is pleased to announce the addition of Ashkay Verma to our team as the Roster Relations Liaison for the south region. Based in Calgary, Akshay is a former LAA roster lawyer with a criminal defence background. He joins our current Roster Relations Liaison, Paul Welke, also a former member of the roster, who is based in Edmonton. His first day with LAA will be Monday, April 22.
Paul and Ashkay are your points of contact to address any questions or concerns you may have. They are committed to maintaining the exceptional quality of counsel available to all Albertans as they enhance and steward relationships with our extensive network of nearly 1,200 roster lawyers and students-at-law across the province. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to them by email at [email protected].
