Bencher Voter Guide

About

One place to hear from every candidate.

Why this site

Donna Purcell, K.C., Arman Chak, K.C. and Colin Lachance are the proponents of this site. They're interested in promoting discussion, awareness and informed participation from the legal profession, in the interests of all Albertans, and in making sure voters have easy access to candidate information. It's independent of the Law Society of Alberta and isn't endorsed by the Law Society or by any candidate.

Donna Purcell, K.C. on LinkedIn (opens in a new tab) Arman Chak, K.C. on LinkedIn (opens in a new tab) Colin Lachance on LinkedIn (opens in a new tab)

The five topics

Donna, Arman and Colin invite every candidate to speak to their experience, interest and perspective on five topics: AI and the Practice of Law, Rural and Remote Practice, Regulatory Burden on Solo and Small Firm, Pathways to the Profession, and Access to Justice through Allied Professionals. Where a candidate's statement doesn't address one of them, the site notes it.

Read how the five topics are defined and how perspectives are summarized.

Where the information comes from

Candidate details, statements and CVs come from the Law Society of Alberta's 2026 Bencher Election candidates page, as published on October 20, 2026. Each candidate's profile here links back to their election profile.

Some candidates have also sent supplemental statements to the site. Each is shown on the candidate's profile and assessed the same way.

The summaries of candidates' perspectives were prepared with an AI assistant from each candidate's published statement, following the method in the topics guide. They interpret the statements; they aren't the candidates' own words, and the candidates haven't reviewed or endorsed them. Each summary comes with the passages it relies on and a note of what it doesn't show.

What you'll find here

  • Topic pages that put every candidate's view on one subject together, with filters by district and a search by name, firm or location.
  • A profile for each of the 38 candidates, with their district, organization, call year, views on each topic and, at the candidate's request, their statement.
  • Registration for the candidates forum on Zoom, Monday, November 2, 2026, 5–7 pm Mountain Time, for Alberta lawyers who are authorized to vote in the 2026 bencher election.
  • News: Coming Soon

Candidates: keeping your information accurate

All candidates are encouraged to contact Colin Lachance at colin@pgya.ca to make sure their perspectives are represented accurately and kept up to date: with additional information they'd like to add, on these five topics or any other, and with any changes they think are needed where they believe our information is inaccurate. At a candidate's request, we'll also publish their statement on their profile.

Please note:

This site is not affiliated with the Law Society of Alberta and is not endorsed by the Law Society or by any candidate.

The role of a Bencher is not to represent or advocate for particular interests, constituencies, or causes, but to exercise independent judgment in carrying out the Law Society’s public-interest mandate.

It is not the intent or objective of this site to suggest that candidates are making representations or promises about how they would approach a given topic as an elected Bencher. Our intent is to invite them to speak to their experience, interest and perspective as it relates to topics on which they may reasonably be expected to engage as an elected Bencher, as that may or may not reflect specific competencies in those areas.