John is Managing Partner of the Vancouver office of Fraser Milner Casgrain. He is also the Vancouver Chair of the Insolvency and Workout Group and regularly acts for companies in need of restructuring as well as for trustees, receivers, financial institutions, commercial lenders, noteholders and other creditors. John practiced in the insolvency area with Cassels Brock in Toronto until 1997, when he relocated to Vancouver.
John has extensive experience with restructurings under both the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act and the Canadian Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. He also has a working familiarity with the United States Bankruptcy Code. Additionally, in his practice, John regularly advises internationally based companies on lending and remedy issues in Canada and is frequently retained by major United States based law firms on Canadian bankruptcy issues.
John has specific expertise in the area of fraudulent transactions, particularly in the context of multi-jurisdictional insolvency cases involving the coordination of foreign legal proceedings to effect recovery, and has been a driving force in Canada with respect to developing joint insolvency protocols to harmonize legal proceedings in the context of cross border insolvencies.
John has authored, presented and published several articles and papers in the insolvency and creditors’ rights areas. He is a contributing author to the Annual Review of Law and Practice and the Continuing Legal Education Society in British Columbia. As well, John is a member of the Insolvency Institute of Canada, an executive member of the Insolvency Section of the Canadian Bar Association and an active member of the insolvency sections of the Turnaround Management Association, the International Bar Association and the American Bankruptcy Institute.