John practiced from 1984 to 2016 in the areas of corporate and commercial law with the law firm of Cox & Palmer (and its predecessor firms) where he held a variety of leadership positions until joining Irving Oil as Chief Legal Officer in February 2016.
John lectured at the Commercial Law section of the Law Society of New Brunswick Bar Admission Course for many years.
He was recognized with the Queen's Counsel (now King's Counsel) designation in 2008. John has been recognized in national publications, including Best Lawyers in Canada and the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory, particularly in corporate law, mergers & acquisitions, and project finance.
Outside of the Legal community John has been involved in mental health care, post-secondary education, health care, and local sports, where he chaired both the Saint John area Mental Health Tribunal established under the Mental Health Act, the Centracare Foundation (now Mindcare NB Foundation), a major funder of community mental health initiatives. He served for many years on Mount Allison University's Board of Regents (Executive) and chaired the Province of New Brunswick Horizon Health Network and has been a long-time director of the Saint John Sea Dogs Quebec-Maritimes Junior Hockey League team.