He stepped into the role this month
Jean-Paul Bevilacqua, formerly a legal education consultant with the Ontario Justice Education Network, has become the Canadian Forum on Civil Justice’s new director.
Bevilacqua stepped into the role on May 1, succeeding Lisa Moore and interim director Nicole Aylwin. As director, Bevilacqua will lead and oversee operations in line with the CFCJ’s research, collaboration, and knowledge mobilization reforms for civil justice, according to LinkedIn.
He will provide strategic leadership and be involved in research management, financial administration, communications, and partnership development. He will also serve as an external representative in Canada’s access to justice community.
“Jean-Paul brings a breadth of experience and a collaborative, people-centred approach to advancing justice reform at this pivotal moment for our justice community across Canada,” said Trevor Farrow, Osgoode Hall Law School dean, in a statement.
At the Ontario Justice Education Network, Bevilacqua worked with schools, communities, and justice-sector partners. He helped develop programs and resources equipping the youth to respond to legal challenges; moreover, he contributed to initiatives improving the accessibility of legal concepts to the public.
He was also previously the Winkler Institute for Dispute Resolution’s assistant director at Osgoode Hall Law School, spearheading and backing research and initiatives related to family law services and community mediation. He also worked with Indigenous youth aiming to change the justice system.
Bevilacqua taught as part of Osgoode’s mediation program and was course and clinic director, working with dispute-resolution practitioners. He was awarded the Dean’s Gold Key and the Legal & Literary Society Award in honor of his work for the law school community; in 2020, he also received the Adjunct Faculty Teaching Award. Last year, he was given the Emerging Leader Award by Victoria University at the University of Toronto.
He once worked with the Ministry of the Attorney General’s court services division. At present, he is part of the Victoria University Senate Executive.
The CFCJ said Bevilacqua’s “cross-sector perspective,” gleaned from his experience in academic, policy, and community work, “positions him to continue and enhance CFCJ’s mandate to produce evidence-based research that supports policy and program development that meets the needs of the public.”
Bevilacqua’s predecessor, Moore, died in December 2025.
“We obviously continue to miss the leadership and dedication of Lisa Moore. We are extremely grateful to Nicole Aylwin, a long-time leader at the CFCJ and justice champion in Canada’s legal community, for her interim leadership and dedicated guidance at the CFCJ. And the CFCJ warmly welcomes Jean-Paul as its director and we look forward to this next chapter,” Farrow said.
