Biographical Notes for New Unified Family Court Appointments for the province of Ontario

The Honourable Theresa Maddalena, currently a Judge of the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario, is appointed as a Judge of the Family Court Branch of the Superior Court of Justice of Ontario, and a Judge ex officio of the Court of Appeal for Ontario. Justice Maddalena was appointed as judge of the Superior Court in 2007.

Justice Nathalie Gregson received her LL.B. after completing the French Common Law Program at the University of Ottawa in 1992.  She was a sole practitioner for 15 years in North Bay, Ontario specializing in Family Law.  She was one of the founders of the Nipissing Collaborative Family Law Program and represented children as a panel member of the Office of the Children’s Lawyer.  Justice Gregson served as a Deputy Judge with the Small Claims Court and was an active legal member of North Bay’s Legal Aid Ontario Appeals Committee.  As an involved member of her community, Justice Gregson served on the Board of Governors for Canadore College and on the Consent and Capacity Board for the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care conducting capacity hearings.

In 2008, Justice Gregson was appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice and was assigned to preside in both Criminal and Family Law matters in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.  During her tenure in Sault Ste. Marie, she was actively involved in a number of committees and was the Local Administrative Judge from 2012 to 2014.

Since 2014, Justice Gregson has been presiding in the Niagara Region, primarily in Welland, Ontario.  She has served on the Executive of the Association of Ontario Judges.  Most recently, she has served on the Judicial Ethics and Education Secretariat committees of the Ontario Court of Justice.

Justice Gregson is also a wife and mother of two wonderful children.  She enjoys spending her free time with her family and friends.

Justice Wendy Malcolm graduated in 1977 from the University of Toronto (Victoria College) with a B.A. (Honours) in English and in 1980 from the Faculty of Law at Queen's University with an LL.B.

Called to the Ontario Bar in 1982, Justice Malcolm practised law for 23 years at O'Flynn, Weese and Tausendfreund in Belleville. She was an assistant Federal Prosecutor; Agent of the Office of the Children's Lawyer; practice reviewer with the Law Society of Upper Canada, and a Deputy Small Claims Court Judge.

Appointed to the Ontario Court of Justice in November 2006, Justice Malcolm presided over domestic, child protection and youth criminal justice cases primarily in Hastings and Prince Edward Counties.

In January 2017, Justice Malcolm was appointed as the Senior Advisory Family Judge of the Ontario Court of Justice by Chief Justice Maisonneuve. In this position, she provided advice about judicial education, practice and procedure for family law matters, and other duties relating to the family justice system. She was a member of the Chief Justice’s Executive Committee, the Family Law Rules Committee and the chair of the Ontario Court of Justice Advisory Committee on Family Law.

She is grateful to the Chief Justice and her colleagues on the Bench of the Ontario Court of Justice for their friendship and support for the last 12 years.

Justice Nicole Tellier graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1986 and was called to the Ontario Bar in 1988.  Until her appointment, her primary focus was family law. However,  for ten years she also had a personal injury litigation practice, representing victims of physical or sexual assault.  As part of her commitment to equality and social justice issues, Justice Tellier represented the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) in two Supreme Court interventions relating to the equality rights of women.  She was also lead counsel in two landmark family law cases in the Supreme Court.

Throughout her career, Justice Tellier held leadership roles in a variety of community-based and legal organizations.  She engaged in law reform by testifying before several federal and provincial Justice Committees on criminal, constitutional and family law issues.  Justice Tellier has also contributed widely to continuing legal education programs.  In 2010, she received the Ontario Bar Association Award for Excellence in Family Law.

Justice Jacalyn Walters was born in Labrador City in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador.  She  left Newfoundland in 1987 to pursue her education, graduating from Dalhousie University in 1990 and 1992 with a Bachelor of Science and a Masters in Education.  In 1995, she graduated from the University of Windsor with a Bachelor of Laws and was called to the Bar in Ontario. 

Justice Walters was an Associate in the law firm of Little & Jarrett in London, Ontario practicing primarily in family law.  While in private practice in London, she also worked in association with the Law Office of Celia MacDonald.  After three years of private practice, she moved to Hamilton in 2000 to become in-house counsel for the Children’s Aid Society of Hamilton. 

Over her 22-year legal career, Justice Walters has held many committee and community volunteer positions.  She is a member of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (AFCC) and the Hamilton Medical Legal Society.  She has been involved in training child protection workers across the province of Ontario for the Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies.  Justice Walters has also served as a mentor for the Law Practice Program through Ryerson University. 

Justice Walters is married to Reverend Daniel MacLean and they are the parents of twins, Alexander and Andrea.

Justice Mary Fraser graduated with her law degree from Queen’s University in 1988. She was called to the bar in 1990.  In her early years as a lawyer, she practised in the area of civil litigation in both Toronto and Ottawa.

In 1994, she returned to her hometown of Pembroke. For the past 25 years, she has maintained a successful and busy practice providing a wide range of services to her clients, principally in the areas of family law, estate planning and administration, estate litigation, and real estate. She acted for children in family proceedings on behalf of the Office of the Children's Lawyer for over a decade.  

Justice Fraser has successfully advocated for clients at all levels of court, including the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada. She has presided part-time as a Deputy Judge of the Superior Court of Justice in Ontario since 2016.

Justice Fraser is a past President of the Renfrew County Law Association and sat on the Executive of this association in varying capacities for a ten-year period.  She is a past member of the Pembroke Police Services Board and served as a Trustee for Wesley United Church (Pembroke). She presently sits on the Board of Valley Heritage Radio. 

Justice Fraser and her husband have two children who are both currently attending Queen’s University.  Her greatest joy has been derived from providing keyboard accompaniment for her children’s fiddle music at numerous community events and fundraisers.

Justice Robert MacLeod was born in Port Arthur (Thunder Bay), Ontario.  He was raised in the Haliburton Highlands where his father was a high school English teacher and his mother was an elementary school teacher.

Justice MacLeod studied biochemistry at the University of Western Ontario and obtained his Bachelor of Science in 1988.  He graduated from the University of Western Ontario Law School in 1991 and was called to the Ontario Bar in 1993.

He articled with the London firm of Harrison, Elwood and joined them as a litigation associate.  He moved to Norfolk County in 1998 in order to raise his three children in a rural setting.  There he joined the Simcoe firm of Cline, Backus, Nightingale and McArthur, becoming a partner in 2004, and remained with them, and the successor firms, throughout his career. 

Justice MacLeod has practiced exclusively in the area of family law.  He has appeared before every level of Ontario court and is listed as counsel in over 40 reported decisions.  He was previously retained as overflow trial counsel for the Children's Aid Society of Haldimand-Norfolk.

Justice MacLeod is currently the President of the Norfolk Law Association.  His past community activities include volunteering as a board member of Ronald McDonald House and as a coach and trainer for several Delhi and Brantford minor hockey teams.

In his free time, Justice MacLeod can be found hiking and birding the wonderful Long Point Biosphere, or fishing the inner bay of Long Point from his kayak. 

Justice Timothy George Price was born in Hamilton, Ontario, but has resided in London for almost his entire life. He attended the University of Western Ontario, where he received Bachelor Degrees in Science (1977) and Law (1980). While at Law School, he was awarded an award for the highest mark in Constitutional Law in 1978. He was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1982.

Justice Price  has practiced at three firms during his career, most recently at Little, Inglis, Price & Ewer LLP, which he joined as a partner in 1999. His areas of practice have been varied, including family law, civil litigation, labour law and environmental defence. For many years, he has represented sexual abuse survivors before the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board. He is a former part-time Assistant Crown Attorney.

The largest part of his practice, however, consisted of representing Children’s Aid Societies in child protection trials and appeals, which he began doing in 1984. He has been a Deputy Judge of the Superior Court, sitting in the London Small Claims Court and a Dispute Resolution Officer in the Family Court in London. In 2018, he was awarded the Brian Garlough Award for professionalism and civility by the Middlesex Family Law Association.

Away from the law, he served as a Catholic School Trustee for 9 years, was on the Board of Changing Ways, and most recently was Chair of the Board of Neighbourhood Watch (London). Justice Price and his wife Monica are the parents of one son.

Born and raised in small-town Carlisle, Ontario, Justice Lauren Bale obtained her Honours Bachelor of Criminology and LL.B. from the University of Windsor, where she was recognized for her academic achievement, community involvement, and success as a varsity athlete. Her early years as a lawyer at Ross & McBride LLP in Hamilton, Ontario focused predominantly in the area of criminal defence work, but evolved into an exclusive practice within the field of family law.  Justice Bale co-founded the Hamilton family law boutique firm of Hughes & Bale LLP in 2012, where she practiced until her appointment.

Justice Bale is a Certified Specialist in Family Law.  She has authored articles on a wide range of family law topics and has been a frequent presenter at Continuing Professional Development programs and conferences.  She has extensive experience as a trial lawyer and has been privileged to represent parties and children in complicated matrimonial and child protection proceedings throughout southern Ontario.

In recent years, Justice Bale has been a member of the Family Law Rules Committee and various sub-committees, a Dispute Resolution Officer in the Hamilton Family Court, Co-Chair of the Hamilton Law Association-Family Law Committee, member of the Hamilton Bench and Bar Subcommittee, Family Law Community Liaison Committee, John Sopinka (United Way) Committee, Executive member of the Hamilton Lawyers’ Club, and as child’s counsel for the Office of the Children’s Lawyer.

Justice Bale and husband Michael are the proud parents and step-parents of five highly active and intelligent young women.