Smith (LLB ’94) as a Judge of the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario. This appointment falls under the government’s judicial application process (established in 2016) which emphasizes transparency, merit and diversity in order to ensure that appointed jurists meet high standards of excellence and integrity. Justice Smith will replace Justice R.N. Beaudoin, who became a supernumerary judge in September 2019.]
Justice Smith was the co-founder and principal of the civil litigation firm Forget Smith, which has offices in Ottawa and Toronto. He specializes in insurance-related issues, personal injury, commercial disputes and professional negligence. He has argued cases in both English and French in front of the Superior Court of Justice, the Ontario Court of Appeal, the License Appeal Tribunal and the Financial Services Commission of Ontario. He was appointed to the Attorney General’s Access to Justice in French Advisory Committee in 2018, which advises and guides the Attorney General of Ontario. He was also appointed President of a sub-committee that deals with the lack of bilingual services offered in French by lawyers and paralegals. Justice Smith has been a member of Association des juristes d’expression française de l’Ontario since 1994 and became the organisation’s treasurer in 2018. In 2015 he co-created, and was a lecturer for their annual French litigation conference, ‘’Atelier de plaidoirie en français.’’
Justice Smith has two degrees from the University of Ottawa, a Business Administration Degree, which he graduated with in 1991 and an LLB from the French Common Law Program, which he earned in 1994. He was called to the bar in 1996.
Congratulations, Justice Smith, on this appointment!