The Honourable Michael H. Tulloch was appointed a judge of the Superior Court of Justice for Ontario in 2003. He was elevated to the Court of Appeal for Ontario in 2012. Prior to his appointment to the bench, Chief Justice Tulloch had served as an assistant Crown Attorney in Peel and Toronto from 1991 to 1995 before entering private practice, where he specialized in criminal law.
In 2016, Chief Justice Tulloch was appointed by the Ontario government to conduct important reviews which resulted in two extensive reports: the Report of the Independent Police Oversight Review (2017) and the Report of the Independent Street Checks Review (2018). He served on the Government Response Team for the Commission on Systemic Racism while working as a Crown Attorney. He was chair of a review panel on Osgoode Hall Law School’s admissions policy in 2006.
Chief Justice Tulloch served as a member of the Ontario Superior Court Education Committee, the National Judicial Institute, and the Commissioner’s Judicial Advisory Committee on International Engagement. He was a Distinguished Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto and a Distinguished Research Fellow in the Centre of Law and Policy at Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University). He was a founding member and a patron of the Second Chance Scholarship Foundation and Chair of the Advisory Board to the Black Business and Professional Association. He has been a frequent speaker in various post-secondary institutions as well as professional and community forums.
Chief Justice Tulloch was born in Jamaica. He holds a B.A. from York University and a LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School. He has also received honourary Doctor of Laws degrees from the Toronto Metropolitan University, the University of Guelph, and the Law Society of Ontario, as well as an honourary Doctor of Divinity degree from Tyndale University and Seminary. He was admitted to the Bar of Ontario in 1991.
Associate Chief Justice Fairburn obtained her undergraduate and law degrees from the University of Toronto and was called to the Ontario Bar in 1992. For over two decades, Justice Fairburn worked as Crown counsel and then general counsel within the Ministry of the Attorney General for Ontario. In 2013 she became a partner at Stockwoods LLP. Justice Fairburn was appointed to the Superior Court of Justice in December 2014, after which she sat as a trial judge in Brampton. She was appointed a judge of the Court of Appeal for Ontario in July 2017. She was appointed Associate Chief Justice of Ontario in September 2020.
Associate Chief Justice Fairburn held many roles within the administration of justice, including serving as an advisor to the Supreme Court Advocacy Institute. She was appointed a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and sat on The Advocates’ Society’s Board of Directors. She was a member of the Justice and Media Liaison Committee. She has been and remains actively involved in legal education, both within and outside of Canada, including with the National Judicial Institute. She is also the recipient of many awards and recognitions, including the Catzman Award for Professionalism and Civility.
Justice David Brown was appointed to the Court of Appeal for Ontario in December, 2014, after sitting as a judge of the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario in the Toronto Region since September, 2006, including several years on the Toronto Region Commercial List. Immediately prior to his appointment to the Court of Appeal, Justice Brown was serving as the President of the Ontario Superior Court Judges’ Association.
Before his appointment to the Bench, he was a partner with Stikeman Elliott LLP (Toronto) in its Litigation and Energy Groups. He served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Osgoode Hall Law School teaching Energy Law from 2004 until 2006, and a Sessional Lecturer at Queen’s University Law School from 1990 to 2002 teaching Trial Advocacy. Justice Brown writes on a number of legal topics, including civil procedure reform and Newfoundland legal history.
Justice Brown earned his B.A. (Hons.), University of Toronto, 1976; Certificate, Beijing Languages Institute, 1977; Diploma, Nanjing University, 1978; J.D., 1981, University of Toronto; L.L.M., Osgoode Hall Law School, 2005; called to the Ontario Bar, 1983.
Justice Jill M. Copeland was appointed to the Court of Appeal for Ontario in March 2022. Prior to her appointment to the Court of Appeal, Justice Copeland served on the Superior Court of Justice (2017 to 2022), and the Ontario Court of Justice (2014 to 2017). Justice Copeland presides in both official languages.
Prior to her appointment to the bench, Justice Copeland practised law in the areas of criminal, constitutional, and administrative law for 19 years, with Ruby & Edwardh, Sack Goldblatt Mitchell LLP, and as counsel to the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario. She appeared before all levels of court in trials and appeals, including numerous appeals in the Supreme Court of Canada and the Ontario Court of Appeal. She also appeared before a variety of administrative tribunals.
From 2007 to 2010, Justice Copeland served as Executive Legal Officer to the Chief Justice of Canada. In that role, she served as the principal advisor to the Chief Justice, and assisted her with the administration of the Supreme Court of Canada, the Canadian Judicial Council, and the National Judicial Institute.
Justice Copeland was called to the bar in 1995. She obtained her LL.B. in 1992, from the University of Toronto, where she was awarded the Dean’s Key and graduated with academic honours. She obtained her LL.M. from Columbia University in 2001, graduating as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. Justice Copeland began her legal career as a law clerk to the Honourable Peter Cory of the Supreme Court of Canada.
Justice Steve A. Coroza was appointed to the Court of Appeal for Ontario in April 2020. Before being appointed to the Court he served as a judge with the Ontario Court of Justice (St. Catharines) from 2009 to 2013 and with the Superior Court of Justice (Brampton) from 2013 to 2020.
Prior to his appointments, Justice Coroza received an LL.B. from the University of Windsor and was admitted to the Bar of Ontario in 1997. He also received an LL.M. from Osgoode Hall Law School in 2003.
Justice Coroza was a staff duty counsel for Ontario Legal Aid in Toronto from 1997 to 1998. From 1998 to 2009, he was senior counsel with the Department of Justice and the Public Prosecution Service of Canada, where his main area of practice was criminal law.
Justice Coroza was a member of the Federation of Asian Canadian Lawyers.
He frequently participates as a panelist in continuing education programs for lawyers and judges. He is a past adjunct instructor of the Trial Advocacy Course at Osgoode Hall Law School and a guest instructor with the University of Notre Dame Law School.
Jonathan Dawe was appointed to the Court of Appeal for Ontario in November 2023, after sitting as a judge of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in the Central East Region since December 2018.
Before his appointment to the bench, Justice Dawe practiced criminal law in Toronto for nearly 22 years, first at Sack Goldblatt Mitchell LLP, and later at his own firm, Dawe & Dineen. His law practice was primarily focused on criminal appeals in the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada, but he was also a member of the legal team that represented one of the defendants in the Air India bombing trial in British Columbia from 2003-2005, and in 2006-07 he served as Associate Commission Counsel to the Driskell Inquiry in Manitoba.
During his time in practice, Justice Dawe also taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, teaching courses on criminal procedure and the Charter, and co-founding the Faculty’s criminal appellate externship program. He also co-wrote a book on criminal appeals for practitioners.
Justice Dawe grew up in the Vancouver area, and studied physics at McGill University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, before switching fields and attending law school. He graduated from the University of Toronto Faculty of Law in 1994 as the Bronze Medalist, and clerked for Chief Justice Antonio Lamer at the Supreme Court of Canada before attending the Yale Law School, receiving his LL.M. degree in 1996. He was called to the Ontario bar in 1997.
Justice Lise G. Favreau was appointed to the Court of Appeal for Ontario in December 2021. She was appointed as a judge of the Superior Court in the Toronto Region in May 2017. During her last three years on the Superior Court, Justice Favreau sat primarily on the Divisional Court where she was also one of the team leads for over two years.
Justice Favreau was counsel at the Crown Law Office – Civil, Ministry of the Attorney General for Ontario from 2003 to her appointment to May 2017. In 2015, she became General Counsel. Between her call to the Ontario Bar in 1996 and 2003, Justice Favreau worked as an associate and a partner in the litigation department at Blake Cassels & Graydon LLP.
Justice Favreau obtained her L.L.B. from the University of Toronto (1994); B.A. (First Class Honours) from McGill University (1987); and D.E.C. from Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf (1983).
Justice Favreau is a frequent speaker at continuing legal education programs and has been actively involved as a mentor in the legal profession throughout her career as a lawyer and a judge.
Justice Favreau is fully bilingual and works in both official languages.
After spending two years at Kings University College, he attended Western’s Faculty of Law, where he received his LL.B. in 1999. After his call to the Ontario Bar in 2001 he joined Robbins, Henderson & Davis where he developed a criminal defence practice. On behalf of the Office of the Children’s Lawyer he represented children in family and child protection cases. He represented the Chippewas of Kettle & Stony Point in employment and child protection matters and chaired its Constitutional Development Committee. He was also the First Nation’s co-counsel in its negotiations with the Federal Government concerning the return of the Stoney Point Reserve and represented its interests at the Ipperwash Public Inquiry.
Justice George was appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice in 2012; to the Superior Court of Justice in 2016; and to the Court of Appeal for Ontario in December 2021. At the Ontario Court he was the West Region’s Education Co-Chair and at the Superior Court was a member of the Chief Justice’s Indigenous Advisory Committee.
Justice Eileen E. Gillese received her B. Comm. from the University of Alberta and her B.A. Hons. Jurisprudence and B.C.L. (Oxon.) (first class) from Oxford University, which she attended as a Rhodes Scholar. Justice Gillese was appointed to the Court of Appeal for Ontario in 2002 after serving as a Superior Court Justice from 1999-2002. Before her judicial appointments, Justice Gillese was Dean and Professor of Law at the Faculty of Law, the University of Western Ontario. While a professor, Justice Gillese received the Western University Edward G. Pleva Award, the 3M Fellowship for Excellence in Teaching, and the Faculty of Law awards for teaching excellence. She is a former Chair of the Pension Commission of Ontario; the Financial Services Commission of Ontario; and the Financial Services Tribunal of Ontario. Justice Gillese received an honorary LLD from the Law Society of Upper Canada (2002), was named the 2003 Globe & Mail Nation Builder (with two others), was named a Top 100 Women (WXN) (2006), and received the OBA Lifetime Achievement Award for Excellence in Pensions & Benefits Law (2009). From 2017 to 2019, Justice Gillese served as the Commissioner for the Public Inquiry into the Safety and Security of Residents in the Long-Term Care Homes System. While on the Bench, Justice Gillese wrote the third edition of The Law of Trusts. She is a frequent speaker at judicial and professional events on a wide variety of subjects.
Justice Gomery obtained a B.A. (Hons.) at Trinity College, University of Toronto in 1986 and her civil and common law degrees from McGill University in 1990. She clerked at the Supreme Court of Canada for Justice Claire L’Heureux-Dubé for a year and for Justice Frank Iacobucci for four additional months. She began practising as a lawyer at McCarthy Tétrault LLP in Montreal. She moved to Ottawa in 1995, worked briefly as general counsel, then joined Ogilvy Renault LLP (later Norton Rose Fulbright LLP) where she became a partner and spent the next twenty years.
Throughout her career, Justice Gomery worked in both English and French. She remained a member of both the Barreau du Québec and the Ontario Bar during most of her years as a lawyer and represented clients in trials and appeals in Ontario, Quebec, and elsewhere. Her practice focused on health law, insurance, and procurement, but she also litigated Charter and access to information cases. In her latter years as a lawyer, Justice Gomery devoted an increasing amount of time leading investigations with respect to business ethics, allegations of inappropriate workplace behaviour, and regulatory compliance.
Justice Gomery has presented at numerous conferences through her legal and judicial career. She has spearheaded initiatives to promote diversity and inclusion and worked to promote clear writing for judges and lawyers.
Alison Harvison Young was appointed to the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario in 2004. At the time of her appointment, Justice Harvison Young was Professor and the Dean of the Faculty of Law at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario . She had earned LL.B. and B.C.L. degrees from McGill University in 1983 and served as law clerk to the Honourable Justice W.Z. Estey from 1983-1984. She obtained a B.C.L. from Oxford University in 1988.
Justice Harvison Young was a member of the Faculty of Law of McGill University from 1988-1998, during which period she taught a range of courses including Foundations of Canadian Law, Remedies in Contract and Tort, Judicial Review of Administrative Action, as well as Family Law and related subjects. In 1997 she was the recipient of the John W. Durnford Teaching Excellence Award. During her years at McGill, she was also the recipient of the David Watson Memorial Award (with Rod Macdonald) in 1991. She was an active contributor to the life of the faculty, serving on many committees and as Associate Dean (Academic) from 1993-1995. She published widely in areas of administrative law, family law, and on the subject of new reproductive technologies.
Since her appointment to the bench, Justice Harvison Young has continued to pursue her interests in teaching and writing, first as a participant in the Legal Ethics and Professionalism “bridge” program at the University of Toronto, and also as a faculty member in the National Judicial Institute annual program for newly appointed judges. In addition, she has served as a co-chair and mentor in the law clerk program at the court. She is a regular speaker and contributor to a number of programs on written advocacy, including the Advocates Society annual weekend program on written advocacy for young lawyers. As the administrative judge responsible for the Toronto Small Claims Court (with approximately 55 sitting deputy judges), Justice Harvison Young developed a strong interest in issues of access to justice, an interest that has been reinforced while sitting in Family Law in Superior Court where the proportions of unrepresented litigants continue to increase.
During the 2017-18 academic year, Justice Harvison Young was granted a study leave to consider issues of access to justice in relation to the Small Claims Court and related challenges. During this period, she also participated in the life of the law faculty of the University of Toronto as the Judicial Visitor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law. The final paper prepared and submitted to the Canadian Judicial Council was entitled: “Coming to a Courtroom Near You? Accessing Justice, the Changing Legal Profession, and Emerging Technology: The Road Ahead”.
Justice Harvison Young was appointed to the Court of Appeal on August 29, 2018.
Justice Hourigan is a graduate of McGill University and Osgoode Hall Law School. The former Chair of the Litigation Department at Fasken Martineau, Justice Hourigan has had a distinguished career in law and public service. In private practice, Justice Hourigan specialized in commercial ligation, with an emphasis on corporate governance disputes, securities litigation, and class actions. He was appointed to the Ontario Superior Court in 2009 and was chambered in Milton, Ontario. While on the Superior Court, Justice Hourigan served on the Board of Directors of the Ontario Superior Court Judges’ Association. In October 2013, he was elevated to the Court of Appeal for Ontario. He has served two terms as the Chief Justice’s representative on the Civil Rules Committee. In 2021, he was appointed as the Commissioner of a Public Inquiry regarding the Ottawa Light Rail Transit system. The Commission had a mandate to investigate the commercial and technical circumstances that led to breakdowns and derailments of the Ottawa LRT. After hearing from approximately 100 witnesses, in November 2022, eleven months after his appointment, he delivered a final report of more than 500 pages, which included 103 policy recommendations.
Grant Huscroft was appointed to the Court of Appeal for Ontario in December 2014, following a lengthy academic career.
He holds a BA from the University of Western Ontario (1980); an LL.B from Queen’s University (1984); and an LL.M from the University of Auckland (1987).
He was a member of the University of Auckland Faculty of Law from 1992-2001, a visiting professor at McGill University Faculty of Law in 1998, and Associate and later Full Professor at the University of Western Ontario Faculty of Law from 2002-2014, serving as Associate Dean from 2006-2008. He founded the Public Law and Legal Philosophy Research Group at Western with Professor (now Justice) Bradley Miller in 2008. He was a member of the NZ Judicial Control Authority for Racing from 1996-98 and the Ontario Health Professions Appeal Review Board from 2008-2014.
His research on public law and legal theory has been published internationally and includes eight collections of essays he co-edited. He has been an invited speaker on constitutional and administrative law at universities in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, England, Italy, and Mexico. He continues to guest lecture at universities and is a frequent contributor to continuing legal education programs.
Justice Peter Lauwers was appointed to the Court of Appeal for Ontario on December 13, 2012, having served on the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario in Central East Region since July, 2008. He presided over cases in all the areas of the Superior Court’s operations including civil, criminal, family, and class actions. He also served on the Divisional Court.
Before being appointed, Justice Lauwers was a partner at Miller Thomson LLP. He practised in the areas of civil litigation, constitutional law, human rights, and administrative law including education, municipal and labour law and appeared at every level of court including the Supreme Court of Canada.
As a lawyer Justice Lauwers lectured in his areas of expertise to, among others, the Canadian Institute, Insight, the Canadian Bar Association, the Ontario Bar Association, the Centre for Cultural Renewal, McGill University, and the Saskatchewan Institute of Public Policy, and published widely.
Since his judicial appointment Justice Lauwers has spoken at events sponsored by the Ontario Bar Association, the Advocates’ Society, the Ontario Trial Lawyers’ Association, the Canadian Defence Lawyers, Osgoode Hall Law School, the Medico-Legal Society of Toronto, the Ontario Human Rights Commission, and the National Judicial Institute.
Justice Lauwers received a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Toronto in 1978 and a Master of Laws from Osgoode Hall Law School of York University in 1983. He was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1980.
Justice James MacPherson has been a judge on the Court of Appeal for Ontario since 1999. From 1993-1999 he was a trial judge. Earlier in his career he was Dean of Law at Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, Executive Legal Officer at the Supreme Court of Canada, Director of Constitutional Law for the Government of Saskatchewan and a law professor at the University of Victoria in British Columbia.
Justice Madsen was appointed to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice on October 18, 2016, and to the Court of Appeal for Ontario on April 30, 2024. She previously sat in Kitchener-Waterloo Superior Court, where she was the Local Administrative Judge as well as the Team Lead for the Unified Family Court. Prior to that she presided in the Unified Family Court in Hamilton, Ontario.
Justice Madsen obtained her BA (Hons) from McGill University in 1992 and her LLB from Osgoode Hall Law School in 2002. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Environmental Studies (2000) and a Master’s Degree in Law (2012), both from York University. In addition, she holds a Graduate Diploma in Refugee and Migration Studies (2000), also from York University.
Justice Madsen has authored a range of academic articles on issues related to family law and alternative dispute resolution. She was co-author of Epstein and Madsen’s This Week in Family Law for five years and co-author of McLeod’s Ontario Family Law Rules from 2020 – 2024.
Prior to her appointment to the Superior Court, Justice Madsen was the principal of Bluewater Mediation, based in London, Ontario, where she was a mediator, arbitrator, and trainer in the alternative dispute resolution field. Prior to founding Bluewater Mediation, she practiced family law at Epstein Cole, LLP.
Justice Madsen has lived, worked, and studied internationally, including in Scandinavia, the former Yugoslavia, South Asia, and East Africa. Her prior professional engagement includes work in the international development and international human rights contexts.
Bradley Miller was appointed to the Superior Court of Justice in Ontario in January 2015 and to the Court of Appeal for Ontario in June 2015.
He was called to the Bars of Ontario (2002) and British Columbia (1993), and practiced commercial and constitutional litigation with Lerners LLP and Miller Thomson LLP in Toronto.
He was awarded a D.Phil in law from Oxford University in 2004 and an LL.M. (magna cum laude) from the University of Edinburgh in 1994. He holds degrees in law and in commerce from the University of British Columbia (1992).
He was a law professor at the University of Western Ontario from 2005-2015, where he was (along with Grant Huscroft) a founding member of Western Law’s Public Law and Legal Philosophy Research Group. During that time he also served as a Visiting Fellow in the Department of Law at the European University Institute, Florence (2008), and in the Department of Politics at Princeton University (2012-13), and was a Visiting Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Princeton University (2012-13). He has published and lectured internationally on constitutional interpretation and on legal reasoning.
Justice Patrick J. Monahan was appointed to the Court of Appeal of Ontario in May 2023, having served as a member of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice from 2017 to 2023. Prior to his judicial appointment Justice Monahan was Deputy Attorney General for the Province of Ontario (2012-17), Provost and Vice President Academic of York University (2009-12), and Dean of Osgoode Hall Law School (2003-09). He was a faculty member at Osgoode Hall Law School for over two decades and a part-time counsel to a major Toronto law firm, acting in a wide variety of public law litigation at all levels of court.
Justice Monahan received degrees from the University of Ottawa and Carleton University, followed by an LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School, where he graduated as the gold medalist, and an LL.M. from Harvard Law School. He served as law clerk to Justice Brian Dickson of the Supreme Court of Canada and was admitted to the Bar of Ontario in 1985.
Justice Monahan played a leading role in the establishment of the Law Commission of Ontario, where he was the founding chair and served on the Board of Governors. His writing has been cited by courts and tribunals in Canada, including by the Supreme Court of Canada. In 2008, he was awarded the Mundell Medal for excellence in legal writing by the Attorney General of Ontario.
Prior to his appointment to the Court of Appeal, Justice Ian V.B. Nordheimer had an eighteen-year career as a judge of Toronto’s Superior Court of Justice. During this time, Justice Nordheimer has written numerous decisions in civil and criminal law, grappling with issues at the heart of Canada’s constitutional democracy, such as the open court principle, the rights of the accused, and the treatment of lawfully assembled protesters. He is recognized by his peers as an expert in multiple areas of law, including class actions, commercial law and criminal law. He also presided over a number of significant trials, including notable murder cases.
In addition to his prolific writing, Justice Nordheimer has held significant administrative positions on the Superior Court of Justice including as the Administrative Judge of the Divisional Court and as Leader of the Criminal Long Trial (Homicide) Team. He also served for many years as a member of the Civil Rules Committee. Furthermore, he is a frequent contributor to continuing legal education programs.
Born in Toronto, but raised in both Montreal and Calgary, Justice Nordheimer earned his honours commerce degree from Queen’s University and then his law degree from the same institution. Justice Nordheimer went on to practise commercial litigation with Fraser & Beatty (now Dentons LLP) in Toronto until he was appointed to the Superior Court of Justice in April 1999.
Justice Paciocco (LL.B. Western 1979; B.C.L., Oxford, 1981; LL.D (hon. causa) Laurentian University, 2005, Professor Emeritus at the University of Ottawa) was a judge of the Ontario Court of Justice at the time of his appointment to the Court of Appeal for Ontario. Justice Paciocco taught at the University of Ottawa Common Law Section as a full-time faculty member for close to 30 years and has also taught at the University of Windsor and the University of Auckland New Zealand. While teaching at the University of Ottawa, and while on leave, Justice Paciocco served as an Assistant Crown Attorney in Ottawa between 1986 and 1992. From 1993 until 2011 he served as counsel to the firm of Edelson and Associates, doing appellate work and engaging in a specialized criminal practice, including before the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. He has also consulted widely for many governmental and non-governmental organizations. Justice Paciocco is widely published, having authored or co-authored four books, and more than 100 legal articles. The Law of Evidence, Irwin Law, 1996, which he co-authors with Palma Paciocco and Professor Lee Stuesser, is in its eighth edition, (2020). He has received teaching and publishing awards, including the Mundell Medal 2002 and a Donner Prize for writing in Canadian Public Policy, 1999. Prior to his appointment to the Court of Appeal for Ontario Justice Paciocco was a frequent lecturer at judicial and professional education seminars.
Justice Pepall was appointed to the Court of Appeal for Ontario in April 2012. She previously was a judge on the Superior Court of Justice from 1999 to 2012 where she served as a Civil Team Leader from January 2005 to August 2006 and as the Team Leader of the Commercial List from August 2006 until December 2010. She also was elected to the Board of Directors of the Ontario Superior Judges’ Association in April 2002 and served as its President from 2006 to 2008.
Prior to her appointment to the Superior Court, Justice Pepall was a partner at McMillan Binch where she practised civil and commercial litigation from 1981 to 1999 and was active on management including serving as the firm’s Managing Partner. She was the volunteer Chair of the Board of Directors of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada and before that, the President of the Ontario Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Justice Pepall was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1978 having received her law degree from McGill University in 1976. She obtained a Masters of Law in Public Law from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1983. She has lectured extensively and has been the recipient of a number of awards, including the first Lifetime Achievement Award from the Turnaround Management Association, the Judy Elder Alumna Award, the Lexpert Zenith Award celebrating leading Canadian Women Lawyers, and the Women’s Executive Network Most Powerful Women Award.
More recently, Justice Pepall has chaired the Federal Judicial Advisory Committee for Toronto, Central West and Central East Regions in Ontario.
Madam Justice Roberts was appointed a Justice of the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario on June 18, 2008 and sat in Toronto on civil and criminal matters, also serving on the Divisional Court, until her appointment to the Ontario Court of Appeal on April 30, 2015. She presides over matters in English and French.
In practice, Justice Roberts was an associate lawyer with Cassels, Brock & Blackwell LLP (Toronto) and then an associate lawyer and subsequently a partner with Genest Murray LLP (Toronto), where, for over twenty years, she had a broad-based civil litigation practice in English and French, including in the areas of commercial, employment, professional liability, carriers’ liability, and educational liability law.
Justice Roberts was granted a Bachelor of Arts (Hons.), in modern languages and commerce, from the University of Toronto, in 1981; a Master of Arts, French Literature and Language, from University of Toronto, in 1983; and an LL.B, from the University of Toronto, in 1985. She was called to the Ontario Bar in 1987.
Justice Pomerance obtained both her undergraduate and law degree from the University of Toronto. She practiced law at the Crown Law Office- Criminal where she appeared before all levels of court, including the Supreme Court of Canada. During a two-year leave of absence, Justice Pomerance served as Counsel to the Honourable Peter Cory on “The Collusion Inquiry”, an inquiry that took place in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland following the Weston Park peace negotiations. The inquiry investigated allegations of collusion by state agencies in six cases of paramilitary murder.
Justice Pomerance was appointed to the Superior Court of Justice in 2006. She served as the Local Administrative Judge of the Windsor court from 2015 until her appointment as Regional Senior Judge on October 10, 2023. She was appointed to the Court of Appeal for Ontario on July 24, 2024. During her tenure on the Superior Court Justice Pomerance presided over many complex and high-profile cases and acted in various administrative roles. She has served on many committees for the Superior Court, the Canadian Judicial Council, and the National Judicial Institute, in addition to being a Board member of the International Association of Women Judges-Canadian Chapter.
Throughout her career, Justice Pomerance has been actively involved in legal education programs for the bar and bench. She has received various awards recognizing her contributions, including the Milvain Chair in Advocacy from the University of Calgary in 2005, an award for contributions to University of Windsor Law School and an outstanding achievement award from the International Association of Women Judges – Canadian Chapter. Justice Pomerance has worked with judges in Ukraine and Africa, and has spoken at the World Bank in Washington. She has been a sessional instructor at Windsor Law since 2014 and lectures each year at Fordham University School of Law and Cardozo school of law. She has written extensively in the area of criminal and constitutional issues and is a co-author of the Emond publication “Modern Criminal Evidence”.
Paul S. Rouleau received his Bachelor in Administration in 1974 and his LL.B in 1977, both from the University of Ottawa. He then received his Masters in Law from York University in 1984. Before his appointments, he was a partner with the law firm of Heenan Blaikie from July 2000 to May 2002, Genest Murray, DesBrisay, Lamek from 1987 to July 2000, and Cassels Brock & Blackwell from his call to the Bar in 1979 to 1987.
He was appointed as a Justice of the Superior Court of Ontario on May 31, 2002 and to the Court of Appeal for Ontario on April 14, 2005. He was also appointed as a Deputy Judge of the Supreme Court of Yukon on June 5, 2014, of the Nunavut Court of Justice on October 5, 2017, and the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories on December 15, 2017.
Since his appointments, he has been actively involved in the continuing legal education of judges, both domestically and internationally, and of members of the Bar. He chairs the Attorney General’s Access to Justice in French Advisory Committee and is a member of the Board of Governors of the Law Commission of Ontario. He was a founding member of l’Association des juristes d’expression française de l’Ontario and was its President from 1985 to 1987. He also served as Trustee of the Metropolitan Toronto Separate School Board from 1986 to 1991. He is the recipient of several awards and recognitions, including an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from York University, the Common Law Honour Society of the University of Ottawa, and l’Ordre des francophones d’Amérique, awarded by le Conseil supérieur de la langue française du Québec.
Janet Simmons is a graduate of the University of Toronto (1974) and of the Faculty of Law, University of Western Ontario (1977). She was called to the Bar in Ontario in 1979. Prior to her appointment as a judge, she was a partner at the Brampton law firm, Lawrence, Lawrence, Stevenson, where she practised primarily in the areas of civil litigation and family law. At the time of her appointment as a judge, she also served as chair of the Peel Region Police Services Board and was a former president of the Peel Law Association. Justice Simmons was appointed to the Ontario Court (Provincial Division) in December 1990, to the Ontario Court (General Division) in September 1991, and to the Court of Appeal for Ontario in August 2000. At the time of her appointment to the Court of Appeal, Justice Simmons was the Regional Senior Judge of the Central West Region of the Superior Court of Justice. Since being appointed as a judge, Justice Simmons has served on numerous court and bench and bar committees and has also participated in a variety of continuing education programs for lawyers and judges.
Justice Sossin was as a law clerk to former Chief Justice Antonio Lamer of the Supreme Court of Canada, a former Associate in Law at Columbia Law School and a former litigation lawyer with the firm of Borden & Elliot (now Borden Ladner Gervais). He received his LL.B. from Osgoode Hall Law School and was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1996. Justice Sossin holds doctorates from the University of Toronto in Political Science and from Columbia University in Law.
Justice Sossin has published numerous books, journal articles, reviews and essays, including Administrative Law in Practice: Principles and Advocacy (Toronto: Emond Montgomery, 2018) (with Emily Lawrence); and Boundaries of Judicial Review: The Law of Justiciability in Canada 2nd ed. (Toronto: Carswell, 2012). Justice Sossin is also the recipient of the 2012 David Mundell Medal for excellence in Legal Writing.
Justice Sossin served as Research Director for the Law Society of Upper Canada’s Task Force on the Independence of the Bar, and has written commissioned papers for the Gomery Inquiry, the Ipperwash Inquiry, and the Goudge Inquiry. He also served as the Vice Chair of the Ontario Health Professions Appeal and Review Board and Health Services Appeal and Review Board, as Integrity Commissioner for the City of Toronto, and as the Open Meeting Investigator for the City of Toronto.
Justice Thorburn was appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal in June 2019.
She was appointed to the Superior Court of Ontario in September 2006 and Deputy Judge of the Northwest Territories in 2009. Prior to her appointment to the Court of Appeal, she was the Team Lead of the Divisional Court.
She is a graduate of l’Université de Montréal (Bac. Int. Chant) and Queen’s University (LLB). She has a Certificat en droit international privé from The Hague Academy of International Law, an A.R.C.T. in Performance Piano and the Silver Medal in Voice from the Royal Conservatory of Music. She was a law clerk with then Supreme Court of Ontario (now the Superior Court of Justice) and a partner with Cassels Brock & Blackwell LLP.
She is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Association of Women judges (an association of over 900 judges from around the world), and Past President of the Canadian chapter. Until her appointment to the Court of Appeal, she was a member of the Board of Directors of the Ontario Superior Court Judges Association.
She is co-author of the Report, Améliorer l’accès a la justice en français (2015) prepared at the request of the Attorney General of Ontario to improve access to justice for French speaking litigants. Until her appointment to the Court of Appeal, she was a member of the Attorney General’s Committee on francophone affairs.
She was a sessional Lecturer Civil Procedure Workshops, at Osgoode Hall Law School from 1993 to 1997, and is co-author of The Law of Confidential Business Information, Canada Law Book, 1998 (co-author K. Fairbairn), and a contributing author of Digital Democracy, Policy and Politics in the Wired World, Oxford University Press, 1998, Ontario Courtroom Procedure (4th Ed.), 2016, and Canada Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (Thomson, Carswell).
She has lived in Canada, France and Italy and works in both official languages.
Justice Trotter was appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice in 2005, to the Superior Court of Justice in 2008 and to the Court of Appeal for Ontario in 2016.
Justice Trotter was educated at the University of Toronto (LL.B.), Osgoode Hall Law School (LL.M.) and the University of Cambridge (M. Phil., Ph.D.). Upon his call to the Bar in 1987, he was an associate at the firm of Beard, Winter, Gordon (now Beard, Winter). From 1988 to 2000, Justice Trotter was counsel with the Crown Law Office (Criminal). He became a full-time member of the Faculty of Law at Queen’s University, where he taught courses in criminal law and procedure. He also served as Associate Dean, and then as Acting Dean of Law.
In addition to The Law of Bail in Canada, 3rd ed. (Toronto: Thomson Reuters, 2010) (looseleaf) and Understanding Bail in Canada (Toronto: Irwin Law, 2013), Justice Trotter is the author of numerous law journal articles, book chapters, as well as being a co-author of a number of casebooks. He frequently speaks at continuing education programs for lawyers and judges.
Justice Katherine van Rensburg was appointed to the Court of Appeal for Ontario in October 2013. Prior to her appointment to this court she had served on the Superior Court of Justice in the Central West Region since November 2006. As a trial judge, Justice van Rensburg was chambered in Brampton, and presided over criminal, family and civil law matters. She also served on the Divisional Court.
Justice van Rensburg was an associate lawyer and then a partner at the Toronto law firm Smith Lyons LLP, and she became a partner in Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP with the merger of the two firms in 2001. She practised civil litigation and environmental law, having been certified by the Law Society of Upper Canada as a specialist in each.
Justice van Rensburg is a graduate of the University of Toronto (B.A.), Queen’s University (LL.B.) and Cambridge University (LL.M.). She spent her articling year as law clerk for the Honourable Justice Wm. McIntyre at the Supreme Court of Canada.
Justice Benjamin Zarnett was born and raised in Toronto. He studied political science and philosophy at the University of Toronto before attending Osgoode Hall Law School, where he graduated as the Bronze Medalist in 1975. He was admitted to the Ontario Bar in 1977 and practiced trial and appellate advocacy until his appointment to the Court of Appeal for Ontario in November 2018.
During his career as a lawyer he handled cases ranging across a wide spectrum of issues including corporate, commercial and securities law, shareholder rights, pension rights, professional liability, class actions, insolvency law, taxation, real estate, intellectual property and broadcasting policy. His clients included individuals, law firms, court-appointed officers, companies, financial institutions, Crown corporations and public interest advocacy organizations. He was counsel in fifteen appeals in the Supreme Court of Canada and numerous cases before Ontario’s appellate and trial courts, as well as appeals in the Federal Court of Appeal and the appellate courts of Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador. At the time of his appointment he was a member of the litigation group at Goodmans LLP in Toronto, where he had been a partner since 1990.
He is a former President of the Advocates’ Society and a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. For his contributions to the justice system, he was awarded the Law Society of Ontario Medal (its highest award) in 2006, the Toronto Lawyers Association Award of Distinction in 2007, and the Ontario Bar Association Award for Excellence in Civil Litigation in 2009