Gary Joseph   Feb | 2025

This article was originally published by Law360 (www.law360.ca), part of LexisNexis Canada Inc.

I had the pleasure this week of attending by Zoom an event to recognize the accomplishments of Justice Carole Curtis of the Ontario Court of Justice. The event featured her being interviewed by Justice Stanley Sherr (one of my favorite judges) also of the OCJ.

Carole was called to the bar in the same year as I and after about 30 years of private family law practice, she was appointed to the bench. Beyond recognizing her stellar list of accomplishments, I write this article for another purpose. Carole (please forgive my informal address) and I have very different world views and our practices were ultimately very different, but I was pleasantly surprised to hear just how many matters relating to the practice of family law we were ad idem.

Carole noted the need for more mentoring for young family lawyers. She expressed some concern about respect among counsel and civility. She emphasized the importance of child protection work and the benefit she realized both in practice skills and job satisfaction from this mostly legal aid work.

I have previously written about how grateful I am for the years of legal aid work I did in the Ontario Court doing protection matters. I learned most of my trial skills there doing challenging work before specialist judges who lived and breathed family law and were “battle tested” in family law litigation. I learned the rules of evidence, the skills to cross examine witnesses and trial preparation doing this work. Some may now criticize me for having what Carole called a “carriage trade practice” and I accept that, but I put in many years doing the legal aid work that many “carriage trade” lawyers simply refused. I am proud of that.

The practice of law is a privilege. The practice of family law, more so. I still love it, yet I worry about the young lawyers moving into our practice area. I urge you to follow Carole’s example, seize the opportunity to both learn and do meaningful work. Don’t turn away legal aid work. I was moved to hear Carole describe the satisfaction she got from the protection work. While I cannot put myself on her level for such contribution, I understand from what she speaks and suggest young family lawyers follow her example.

Gary S. Joseph is counsel to the firm of MacDonald & Partners LLP. A certified specialist in family law, he has been reported in over 350 family law decisions at all court levels in Ontario and Alberta. He has also appeared as counsel in the Supreme Court of Canada. He is a past family law instructor for the Law Society Bar Admission Course and the winner of the 2021 OBA Award for Excellence in Family Law.

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