Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella practised civil and criminal litigation until she was appointed to the Ontario Family Court in 1976. She subsequently chaired the Ontario Law Reform Commission and the Ontario Labour Relations Board, was the sole Commissioner and author of the 1984 Royal Commission on Equality in Employment, was a visiting professor at McGill Law School for 5 years and served as a judge on the Ontario Court of Appeal for 12 years.
Justice Silberman Abella is a specially elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as a graduate of the Royal Conservatory of Music in classical piano. She was a judge of the Giller Literary Prize, has written extensively on a wide variety of legal topics, and has 20 honourary degrees. She was the first Jewish woman appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada in 2004. Justice Silberman Abella is married to Canadian history professor Irving Abella and they have two sons.