Our Team

Lexpert/Thomson Canada’s Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory 2011—Repeatedly recommended practitioner in public law litigation

Chambers & Partners’ Chambers Global: World’s Leading Lawyers for Business, The Client’s Guide 2011—Leading lawyer in international trade/WTO and arbitration

Woodward White’s Best Lawyers in Canada 2010, 2011 and 2012—Leading lawyer in international arbitration

Chambers & Partners’ Chambers Global: World’s Leading Lawyers for Business, The Client’s Guide 2009 and 2010—Leading lawyer in international trade/WTO

Real Time News' LawDay 2009—Leading lawyer in international trade law

John’s recent international trade and investment experience includes acting as counsel for or advising

• Nova Scotia Power International in a dispute with Venezuela over expropriation of rights in a coal supply contract
• the shareholders of YUKOS oil and gas company in a high-profile dispute with the Russian Government
• Cargill in defending an application by Mexico to set aside a significant arbitration award
• the Canadian mining company, Vannessa Ventures, in an investor/state arbitration with Venezuela over a major gold-mining property
• a claim by US investors against Azerbaijan
• a Canadian mining company, Dundee Precious Metals, in a dispute with Bulgaria
• a U.S investor in a dispute with Mexico
• Canada Post in the UPS NAFTA arbitration against Canada
• the U.S. corporation S.D. Myers in proceedings to set aside a NAFTA arbitral award
• major multinational pharmaceutical companies in relation to cross-border and counterfeit sales of pharmaceutical products
• a large Canadian multinational mining company challenging U.S. restrictions under the WTO and NAFTA
• a large multinational company with respect to international human rights matters

John’s recent experience in court includes acting as counsel for

• the Internal Inquiry into the Actions of Canadian Officials in relation to Abdullah Almalki; Ahmad Abou-Elmaati; and Muayyed Nureddin (John is acting as co-lead counsel)
• acting as counsel to the Panel of Arbiters reviewing the Afghan Detainees documents produced by the Government of Canada
• the Federal Representative Mr. Justice Frank Iacobucci, who was appointed by Canada to settle the Indian Residential Schools’ litigation
• Canada Post before the federal Commission of Inquiry into the Sponsorship Program and Advertising Activities (Gomery Commission)
• the Canadian Wind Energy Association in a challenge to Ontario’s new green energy legislation
• a major financial services corporation in defending a class action
• the Ontario Government in negotiations with the Grassy Narrows First Nations
• the family of Canadian journalist Zahra Kazemi, who was tortured and killed by the Iranian government
• the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the high-profile Suresh appeal before the Supreme Court of Canada
• a large financial services firm in a major securities trial
• a large multinational consumer goods company in a patent infringement trial
• major Canadian law firms in solicitor’s negligence actions
• a major Canadian corporation, against allegations of fraud brought against one of its senior executives

John teaches International Commercial and Investor-State Arbitration and Public International Law at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law as an Adjunct Professor, and teaches advocacy with the Foundation for International Arbitration advocacy in Geneva. He has also taught public law in the Bar Admission Course and participates as a judge and faculty member for trial advocacy courses and various competitive moots, including the Niagara International Moot and Vis Moot in Vienna. Before joining Torys, John worked as a constitutional lawyer with the Ontario government and senior policy adviser with the Ontario Cabinet Office, coordinating the government’s Aboriginal Peoples’ agenda. John also spent two years teaching international trade law, international commercial arbitration and international human rights law at Otago University in New Zealand.

John is a member of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) arbitration roster for Canada.

John is the co-author of three books: Creditors' Remedies in Ontario, Interlocutory Proceedings: Strategy and Practice, and The Emotional Consequences of Personal Injury: A Handbook for Psychiatrists and Lawyers. He has also written numerous other articles and delivered speeches, primarily on international law and constitutional issues.

John served as a clerk to Mr. Justice Cory of the Supreme Court of Canada, and to the judges of the Ontario Court of Appeal.

Canada-EU Mining Council (director)
Canadian Lawyers for International Human Rights (founding member)
Outward Bound Canada
Canada-United States Law Institute, University of Western Ontario (advisory board)