Canadian Lawyer

28 A p r I L 2 0 1 5 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m civil service have only praise for her management style. "She had a very quiet, thoughtful way of approaching challenges. She was always respectful," says Malliha Wilson, the current assistant dep- uty attorney general of the legal services division of the ministry. Karakatsanis would seek out the views of her colleagues and "al- ways come in with an open mind." At the same time, "she was not afraid to make the tough decisions," says Wilson. "One of her great strengths was she would bring people along. I think the positions she held, were great experience," to be a judge, says Wilson. A er serving senior roles as a civil servant under the provin- cial Conservative government, Karakatsanis was appointed to the Ontario Superior Court in 2002 by the Liberals. It was a signifi cant change, she recalls. "I was a little apprehensive. I went from dealing with broad issues that had deep public impact to dealing with in- dividual cases. But you soon learn that the principles fl owing from those individual cases defi ne the rights for us all," she says. "I went from three or maybe four people whose job it was to make my work- ing day easier, to having one-third or maybe a quarter of a secretary. You learn to be self suffi cient," she says. A trial level judgeship can be a very solitary position, but she says there was a good sense of commu- nity among her Superior Court col- leagues. "You are making important decisions that impact people hugely. It is a huge responsibility. I think everyone feels that," she says. Karakatsanis was sworn in as a Superior Court judge by War- ren Winkler, who was then the regional senior justice in Toronto. "She is a person of depth and very strong character and values," says Winkler. He says of taking advantage of her past experience in government, "I saw her as a go-to person to help me with ad- ministrative duties." Years later, when he was Ontario's chief justice and Karakatsanis was also on the Court of Appeal, he tapped into that experience again. is time it was to help with reaching the fi rst-ever memorandum of understanding between MAG and the Court of Appeal over its operations. "I conscripted her to help me with that. She was a big help," he says. While praising her administrative experience, Winkler says she was also an asset in a more traditional judicial way. "She proved to be a good substantive judge. She was quick on the law." Despite a successful career even before she was appointed to the Superior Court and then nine years on the bench, the media cov- erage was less than eff usive when she was named to the Supreme Court in the fall of 2011. As a civil servant she worked under the Liberals, Conservatives, and NDP. As a judge, she was appointed by the Liberals and elevated by the Conservatives. Yet both e Globe and Mail and e National Post quoted legal "experts" suggesting a link the Conservative party was central to her appointment. In the spring of 2013, in an editorial that eff ectively came out of the blue and did not appear to be tied to any specifi c event, e Globe claimed Karakatsanis was struggling on the Supreme Court. Its main basis for the assertion was that she was not the author of many judgments, compared to Justice Michael Moldaver, who was appointed at the same time. Winkler remembers that editorial and remains angered by it. "Completely unfair and unfounded," he says bluntly. He describes his former judicial colleague as someone with a keen legal mind who has strong views. At the same time, "she is measured. She gets her bearings. She is going to be there for a long time," says Winkler. It is not her personality to try to carve out a higher profi le immediately within the court, he explains. If her impact has been lost on some members of the daily media, it has been noticed within the le- gal community. "She has been the author of a number of important unanimous decisions," says Lynne Watt, a partner at Gowlings LLP in Ottawa who heads its Supreme Court practice group. During oral hearings Karakatsanis is not the most interventionist of the judges. "But she is not shy to ask questions," says Watt. One of the most signifi cant of her rulings to date is Hryniak v. Mauldin, an early 2014 decision that set out the framework for in- creased use of summary judgment motions in civil litigation a er changes to the Rules of Civil Procedure. "Ensuring access to jus- tice is the greatest challenge to the rule of law in Canada today," reads the fi rst line of that judgment, which Karakatsanis wrote for a unanimous court. e decision will likely have a profound impact on civil litigation in the country. "It is very nice to have summary judgment in the tool box," she says. "It will change the way we prac- tise," says Watt, who believes Hryniak will give judges more leeway to decide matters on a paper record, when appropriate and fewer disputes will have to go to a full trial. In the little more than a year since the decision was released, summary judgment motions in Ontario have been granted nearly 75 per cent of the time, says Watt, according to research conducted "THESE ARE IMPORTANT PUBLIC ISSUES AND OF COURSE THEY ARE OPEN TO PUBLIC DEBATE. I DON'T THINK THERE IS ANYTHING WRONG WITH CRITICIZING OUR DECISIONS OR HAVING A DISCUSSION ABOUT THE DECISIONS." Justice Andromache karakatsanis (right) is applauded during her swearing in at the sCC on Nov. 14, 2011. BLAIr GABLE/rEUTErS

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