Madam Justice Melanie Kraft was appointed to the Superior Court of Justice on April 6, 2020. She graduated from Osgoode Hall Law School in 1994. Upon completion of her articles with Epstein Cole LLP, she was admitted to the Bar of Ontario. She practiced family law exclusively with the firm, becoming a partner in 2001.
Justice Kraft’s practice covered a broad range of family law issues and involved various dispute-resolution mechanisms, including the negotiation of domestic contracts in complex financial matters and acting as counsel in contentious parenting, support, and property disputes.
Given Justice Kraft’s long-held commitment to improving the public’s access to justice, she has supported and participated in programs developed to support this objective. This includes her past participation in the Intensive Poverty Law Programme at Parkdale Community Legal Service; her service as Duty Counsel at the Ontario Court of Justice, and her service both as a Dispute Resolution Officer and as Advice Settlement Counsel at the Superior Court of Justice.
Justice Kraft has been an Adjunct Professor at Osgoode Hall Law School, where she co-taught Family Law with Aaron Franks and Roslyn Tsao. She has obtained certificates in mediation from both the Collaborative Decision Resource Centre in Boulder, Colorado, and the Program of Instruction for Lawyers at Harvard Law School.