Gloria Epstein

Gloria Jean Epstein is a supernumerary judge of the Court of Appeal for Ontario. She had also previously been appointed to the Court of Ontario. On January 1, 2015, Epstein retired to become a supernumerary judge, and was replaced as a full time judge by Bradley Miller.

Epstein graduated in 1972 from Queen's University, earning an Honours Bachelor of Commerce. Epstein is a graduate of the University of Toronto Faculty of Law, earning a Bachelor of Laws in 1977. She founded one of the first Toronto-based law firms that was owned by a woman. She often lectures on the role of female lawyers in Canadian law and her own experience in being raised to the bench while raising three children.

In 1999, Epstein, then serving on the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, ruled in M v H that the definition of a spouse in the Ontario Family Law Act was unconstitutional because it discriminated against homosexuals. The ruling was upheld by the Ontario Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada after appeals by the Ontario government of Premier Mike Harris.

In 2011, Epstein was considered a candidate to fill a vacant Supreme Court of Canada seat for Ontario, which ultimately went to Court of Appeal judge Andromache Karakatsanis.

In 2013, Epstein won a Toronto YWCA Women of Distinction Award for her contributions to the legal field. From 2013-2015, Epstein served as the volunteer president of the University of Toronto Law Alumni Association.

In 2014, after the December 2013 retirement of Warren Winkler as Chief Justice of Ontario, Epstein was considered as one of the two leading candidates to replace him as Ontario's highest judge.

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