Blakes is proud to announce that Paul Schabas, a Partner in the Firm’s Litigation & Dispute Resolution group has been appointed as a Judge to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
The Ontario Superior Court of Justice has jurisdiction over criminal, civil and family cases, and is the largest superior trial court in Canada.
“We are extremely proud of Paul and congratulate him on this tremendous achievement and career milestone,” said Firm Managing Partner Rob Granatstein. “This well-deserved appointment recognizes Paul’s exceptional and influential work as one of Canada’s leading media, constitutional, business crimes and competition litigators.”
“Paul’s contributions to the profession, community and to Blakes are deep and wide-ranging. He has been an integral part of our Firm since joining Blakes as a summer student in 1983 and we look forward to continuing his litigation tradition,” said Brad Berg, the Practice Group Leader for Litigation & Dispute Resolution in Toronto. “Paul’s leadership, talent, tenacity and compassion will serve him well on the bench.”
While at Blakes, Paul worked on a variety of litigation matters spanning everything from complex commercial litigation and arbitrations to white collar criminal, tax and regulatory matters — alongside a reputation as one of Canada's most prolific media and constitutional lawyers. He has argued many seminal cases before the Supreme Court of Canada, developing new law in areas such as defamation, free expression, equality rights, access to justice, pensions and tax law.
Paul is also a founding director of Pro Bono Law Ontario, a director of the Canadian Journalism Foundation, former Chair of the Law Foundation of Ontario and a former director of The Advocates’ Society and the National Youth Orchestra. He was also only the second Blakes lawyer to serve as Treasurer (President) of the Law Society of Ontario, after our founder Edward Blake.
