Called to the Bar in Ontario in 1976. Was in private practice in Toronto for 19 years. Elected as a Bencher of the Law Society in 1987 and 1991. In 1995 was appointed to what is now the Superior Court of Justice in Ontario. Had been involved in the Toronto Electronic Filing Pilot Project which planned, developed, implemented and maintained the first electronic filing end-to-end system in a court in Canada; member of the Ontario E-filing Implementation Committee which was involved in planning, developing and implementing pilot projects intended to lead to province-wide electronic filing.
Between 2000 and 2005, was a member of the Judges Technology Advisory Committee of the Canadian Judicial Council and as a result chaired or participated in committees dealing with the following :
-Three surveys of chief justices as to the status of the security of computers used by judges and judicial information created, stored and used by judges
-The Blueprint for the Security of Judicial Information – a guide for use by all courts as to the technical requirements for security for the technology resources of judges
-Monitoring of the computers used by judges
-Acceptable Use Policy
-Model Protocol for the establishment of a Court Technology Committee
-The discussion paper on Electronic Access to Court Records and the model policy approved by Council in September 2005
-The Use of Personal Information in Judgments and Recommended Protocol
-The Feasibility of a Canadian Centre for Court Technology
Has made presentations on such technology issues to the Manitoba Court of Queens Bench, the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia, the Court of Appeal of New Brunswick, the Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island and the Provincial Court of British Columbia. As a result of the Forum held in August 2005 to explore its feasibility, the Canadian Centre for Court Technology was incorporated as a non-profit in 2007. Fran co-chairs the Board of Directors.
