Five new provincial court judges for Ontario

Ontario has appointed five new judges to the provincial court bench. Their appointments are effective Dec. 8.

Philip Anthony Downes joined the Crown Law Office — Criminal at the Ministry of the Attorney General in 1998 when he was called to the bar. As Crown counsel, he conducted criminal appeals as well as criminal trials in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and the Ontario Court of Justice. In 2006, he moved to private practice and in 2008, he became a sole practitioner focused in the area of criminal and quasi-criminal law, as well as regulatory and professional discipline matters. Downes will preside in Toronto.

Jamaican-born Aston Joseph Hall was a criminal lawyer in sole practice from when he was called to the Ontario bar in 1995 to 2002, when he became a senior partner at Hall & Vaughan in 2002 and then opened his own law firm, Aston J. Hall and Associate, in 2009. Hall has been a director of the Criminal Lawyers’ Association. He will also sit in Toronto.

Jacqueline Loignon was called to the bar in 1994. Between 1995 and 1999, she was worked for the Regional Municipality of Ottawa-Carleton and then went on to practise at Lang Michener LLP as an associate, where she was a member of both the Supreme Court of Canada and the Litigation practice groups. From 2001 to 2006, she was counsel for the Ottawa Police Service, and she joined the Ministry of the Attorney General as an assistant Crown in 2006. Loignon has been assigned to Ottawa.

Joseph Gilbert Raoul Maille was called to the bar in 1984 and joined the firm Ramsay Ramsay Kemp and Andrew, later known as Kemp Maille. He has also acted as standing agent for the Attorney General of Canada in of Temiskaming and served as a Deputy Judge of the Small Claims Court from 1997 until he left private practice. Maille joined MAG as an assistant Crown in 2008, working in Thunder Bay and then Haileybury. Chief Justice Annemarie E. Bonkalo has assigned Justice Maille to preside in a bilingual position in Haileybury.

Called to the bar in 1994, Heather Adair McArthur’s practice focused on criminal trials and appeals. In 2008, she opened McArthur Barristers. She has appeared at all levels of court including the Supreme Court of Canada and served as a Toronto director for the Criminal Lawyers’ Association and as a board member for the Association in Defence of the Wrongfully Convicted. McArthur will preside in Toronto.

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