The Alberta Land and Property Rights Tribunal (ALPRT) is one of the latest to take that step, adopting Norma, Lexum’s all-in-one legal publishing platform.
A Commitment to Transparency
The ALPRT is a quasi-judicial tribunal responsible for issuing decisions and recommendations on land and property rights matters in Alberta. Its mandate includes compensation disputes tied to expropriation or unpaid surface leases, industrial property assessments, subdivisions and the granting of access to private and Crown land for resource development.
With more than 23,000 decisions to publish, the ALPRT sought a publishing solution that could handle volume efficiently and ease the operational burden on its staff. But more than that, the Tribunal prioritized transparency as a foundational value —recognizing that open, accurate, and timely access to legal information is critical for greater accountability and public trust. Norma emerged as the clear choice that could deliver just that.
A Modern Workflow That Save Time
With Norma, ALPRT staff benefit from an intuitive web interface that enables files to be uploaded and automatically converted into clean, responsive, and fully accessible HTML or PDF documents. Formatting challenges are eliminated, and manual cleanup becomes a thing of the past.
Moreover, its built-in autofill functionality extracts key information — such as case titles, decision dates, citations, and parties — directly from Word documents. The data is then automatically populated in the corresponding metadata field in the back-end interface, allowing staff to review and approve the content before publishing. The result is faster turnaround times, more consistent metadata, and fewer errors.
And if something needs to be corrected later? Norma’s version tracking makes it easy to restore previous versions, so that nothing is ever lost. Additionally, its audit logs provide clear visibility into who published or modified a document, and when.
Broader Access Through CanLII Integration
Thanks to the Norma–CanLII Bridge, ALPRT’s decisions are automatically shared with CanLII, Canada’s most widely used source for free legal information.
A single publication sends decisions to both the Tribunal’s website and CanLII, keeping everything in sync without duplication or delay.
It’s simple. It’s efficient. And it ensures the public always has access to the most up-to-date rulings.
A Better Search Experience for Everyone
Norma significantly enhances how ALPRT decisions are searched and accessed by the public. Whether you’re preparing for a proceeding or seeking clarity on a particular issue, the ALPRT website now provides a sophisticated yet intuitive advanced search experience.
Users who already know what they’re looking for can retrieve decisions quickly by entering a case name, neutral citation, other citation formats, or a file number. For those conducting broader research, Norma’s full text search field—enhanced with support for precision syntax, including proximity operators—makes it easy to retrieve documents where key terms or partial matches appear close together within the same sentence or paragraph.
Results are presented with contextual excerpts and highlighted matching terms, enabling users to quickly assess the relevance of each document without needing to open them individually. For greater precision, users can apply advanced filters based on date, municipality, application or appeal type, and subject matter.
Equally important, the platform’s responsive design ensures an optimal search experience across all mobile devices. Whether in the office or on the go, users always benefit from the same intuitive interface and fast, reliable access to legal information.
Ready to make the leap?
Legal institutions are recognizing that traditional solutions can no longer keep pace with the demands of the public or the operational realities of contemporary legal publishing.
By selecting Norma, the ALPRT is not only streamlining its workflows but also reinforcing its commitment to transparency. It’s a forward-looking step—one that more institutions are now ready to take. Will yours be next?
