From the Department of Justice News Release:
Justice J. Ross Macfarlane was born and raised in Welland. He is an honours graduate of the Arts & Science Program at McMaster University and received his Bachelor of Laws from the University of Ottawa. He was called to the Ontario bar in 1995.
Justice Macfarlane is fluent in French and English. As a law student, he worked in the University of Ottawa Student Legal Aid Clinic, representing clients of limited means in the small claims court. He articled and practised in Ottawa until 2003, when he returned with his family to the Niagara Region as a senior litigator at Flett Beccario in Welland. His practice has been primarily civil litigation with an emphasis on commercial, real property, and insolvency matters, with extensive experience before the trial and appellate courts of Ontario. He has most frequently represented and advised financial institutions and licensed insolvency trustees but has also acted for a diverse range of public and private companies and individuals.
Justice Macfarlane has presented to and assisted in planning many continuing education programs for trustees, lawyers, and clients, and has taught insolvency law at the bar admission course in Ottawa. He is a former president of the Welland County Law Association and has also been a member of the Advocates’ Society, the Ontario Bar Association Council, the Registrars’ Committee for the Toronto Bankruptcy Court, and the Board of Directors of the Niagara College Learning Enterprises Corporation. An avid cook, he has been the president of Les Marmitons International, a cooking club with 19 chapters across North America.
Congratulations to Justice Macfarlane on this appointment!