Wilson was an instructor in trial advocacy at the University of Toronto Law School, a director of the Advocates’ Society, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Medico-Legal Society. She was a member of the Moot Court Council at Queen’s Law School and sat on the board of directors of the Ontario Superior Court Judges Association.
Joining Wilson in the move to the Court of Appeal is Lene Madsen, who previously served on the Family Court branch of the Superior Court of Justice in Hamilton. Madsen served as a principal mediator with Bluewater Mediation in London and as an associate with Epstein Cole LLP. Her legal practice focused mainly on counsel-assisted mediation, most of which resulted in comprehensive settlements. She was appointed to the Superior Court of Justice in 2016.
The Superior Court of Justice of Ontario will welcome several new faces, including Apple C. Newton-Smith, elevated from the Ontario Court of Justice in Toronto. Before her appointment to the bench, she was a partner at Berkes Newton-Smith. She practised as a criminal defence lawyer at both the trial and appellate levels and appeared regularly at all levels of court for 20 years.
Newton-Smith was a vice-president of the Criminal Lawyer’s Association. She sat on the board of the Pro Bono Inmate Appeals Program at the Ontario Court of Appeal, McGill Women in Leadership and Philanthropy, and the Cottingham Public School Parent Council. She was also an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, an editor of the Law Society of Ontario’s lawyer licensing materials, and chair of the Ontario Judicial Education Network (OJEN) Toronto committee.
Another notable appointment is Carissima Mathen, a law professor at the University of Ottawa. She has been named a judge of the Superior Court of Justice in Toronto. Mathen’s academic and litigation background, particularly in Charter rights, is expected to bring a fresh perspective to the bench. She joined the University of Ottawa in 2011 where she was promoted to full professor and served a term as vice dean academic of the English common law program. She also taught law at the University of New Brunswick. After her call to the bar, she spent seven years working for the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) where she pursued path-breaking Charter of Rights litigation.