John is a litigator whose practice is focused in the areas of commercial and environmental litigation, expropriation law, energy regulation, and regulatory offences.  He is particularly interested in agricultural issues and the regulation of agricultural land use, and lives and works on his family’s cash crop farm north of London, Ontario with his wife, daughter and son. 

Since his call to the Bar in July, 2005, John has acted as counsel in matters before all levels of Ontario courts, the Nova Scotia Supreme Court and Court of Appeal, the Federal Court of Appeal, the Ontario Energy Board, the National Energy Board, the Ontario Environmental Review Tribunal, and other regulatory tribunals.  Working closely with Paul Vogel, John assists landowners across Canada in responding to proposals for new energy projects and has advocated on behalf of landowners for improvements to the energy regulatory system. 

Before joining Cohen Highley as a summer student and later as an articling student, John attended Mount Allison University and McGill University.  Majoring in Honours French Literature at Mount Allison, John was awarded the William Tweedie Memorial Gold Medal (for highest record in all subjects counting toward the Bachelor of Arts degree with honours) and the John Edgar Peters Prize (for highest general average in the Bachelor of Arts program) when he graduated in 2000. 

In February, 2004, John graduated with great distinction from the McGill University Faculty of Law with Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Civil Law degrees.  At graduation, he was recipient of the George S. Challies Memorial Award and the Montreal Bar Association Prize for highest standing in Civil Procedure.  During the 2002-2003 academic year, John studied on exchange at the University of Edinburgh School of Law where he achieved first class honours in all courses of study.  

John is a member of the Middlesex Law Association, the Ontario Bar Association, the Canadian Bar Association, the Advocates’ Society and the Ontario Expropriation Association.