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Canadian Advisory Committee
The Honourable Madame Justice Debra Paulseth
Family and Youth Court Judge and Administration and Procedural Reform Specialist
Justice Paulseth was appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice in November, 2005. Justice Paulseth is considered a leading expert in justice reform in Canada with a specialty in court procedural reform and information technology. She has substantial experience in directing the administration and management of Ontario courts, reviewing and assessing the justice system, and formulating and implementing policies related to the courts. In March 1994 she was named Counsel to the Ontario Civil Justice Review, a joint initiative of the Attorney General and the Chief Justice of the Superior Court. The Review addressed issues such as backlog, case flow management and alternative dispute resolution, management information systems, re-organization of administrative staff and courts administration, judicial support work and auxiliary judicial officers, etc. It made a number of recommendations as set out in two reports: March 1995 and November 1996, which led to the implementation of a system of case management and of mandatory referral to mediation. In 1995, Justice Paulseth joined the Court Services Division, first as Director of Toronto Courts and in 2001 as Assistant Deputy Minister. Her interest in technology led to the first project in Canada to initiate electronic filing of court documents. Justice Paulseth supervised the introduction of one of the most important tools the Ministry of the Attorney General has made available to Family Courts and the Superior Court - the new FRANK technology that permits the court to statistically track and quantify the disposition of cases and to schedule and assign judicial resources. In 2003 Justice Paulseth was appointed Associate Chair of the Task Force on the Discovery Process in Ontario. The Task Force examined the use of the discovery process in civil litigation and issued a report recommending changes to the practice.
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