Justice Paul B. Schabas

THE HONOURABLE JUSTICE PAUL B. SCHABAS. Appointed to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, 2019.  Called to the Bar, 1986. Practised criminal law before joining Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, where he had a broad civil and regulatory litigation practice with a focus on media and constitutional law. From 2016 to 2018 Justice Schabas was the 66th Treasurer (President) of the Law Society of Ontario where he championed diversity and inclusion, access to justice, and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. He was a Bencher of the Law Society from 2007 to 2016.

Justice Schabas has led several other legal organizations, including the Law Foundation of Ontario, Pro Bono Ontario and the Canadian Media Lawyers Association, and was a Director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, Canadian Journalism Foundation, Family Service Toronto, The Advocates’ Society, and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. Currently, he is the President of the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History.

For many years he taught media law at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, and Trial Advocacy at Osgoode Hall Law School.  A Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, he was named one of Canadian Lawyer’s 25 Most Influential Lawyers in 2011 and 2018