The Honourable Catherine La Rosa was appointed to the Superior Court of Quebec in 2006. Prior to her appointment, she practised in the areas of family and human rights law for 20 years. She is the author of two works of reference, Loi sur le divorce annotée and Loi sur le patrimoine familial annotée (1st edition).
Senior Associate Chief Justice La Rosa has served as coordinator of the Family Court in the District of Québec since 2008, where she has contributed to concrete measures to improve access to justice. In particular, she worked on the Parenting Conflict Resolution (PCR) pilot project, launched in collaboration with the Quebec Bar and the Ministère de la Justice du Québec, which supports children whose parents have difficulty communicating after a separation.
Senior Associate Chief Justice La Rosa sat on the committee on the application of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction for two years. She is a member of the training group for the Seminar for New Federally Appointed Judges and has co‑chaired the Canadian training program since fall 2018. Senior Associate Chief Justice La Rosa was also chair of the Federal Judicial Advisory Committee for Quebec – East from 2017 to 2019.
Senior Associate Chief Justice La Rosa graduated from the Université Laval’s Faculty of Law in 1985 and was admitted to the Quebec Bar in 1986. With a father who emigrated to Canada from Italy and a mother from Quebec, Senior Associate Chief Justice La Rosa is fluent in French, English and Italian. She is married to Jocelyn Verdon and is the mother of two children, William and Charlotte.