The Institute of Law Research and Reform was formed on November 15, 1967 through an agreement between the University of Alberta, the Attorney General of Alberta and the Law Society of Alberta. The first meeting of the Board of Directors of the Institute took place on November 30, 1967 at which time H.G. Field was elected Chairman of the Board and A.R. Thompson was elected secretary.

The Institute was created in response to concerns raised by the Law Society that it was not possible to discharge the functions of a law reform agency for the province of Alberta in an adequate fashion through the existing law reform committee. There was concern that voluntary part time law reform work by members of the profession could not do justice to the needs of law reform.

The body is unique in that it has the commitment and ongoing support of its founding parties yet has the independence and distance to control its own affairs by reference to the objectives set out in its founding agreement.

The Institute has four objectives:

Research: To conduct and direct research into law and the administration of justice;
Recommend: To consider matters of law reform with a view to proposing to the appropriate authority the means by which the law may be made more useful and effective;
Promote: To promote law research and reform; and
Cooperate: For the purposes described above, to work in cooperation with the Faculty of Law at the University of Alberta, the Faculty of Law at the University of Calgary and with others.

Board members were appointed to the Institute by the three founding bodies who were also responsible for financing the Institute’s operations. Office space was provided by the University of Alberta where it remains to this day. In 1989 the Institute of Law Research and Reform changed its name to the Alberta Law Reform Institute (ALRI).