Background
John Blair is a partner and regional leader of BLG's Commercial Litigation Group in Calgary. John practises commercial and securities litigation. He has considerable experience and success advising and acting for brokers, issuers, financial institutions, directors, officers, boards, special committees and others in proceedings before regulatory tribunals, including the Alberta Securities Commission, Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and the TSX and TSX Venture Exchanges, as well as other regulators. His regulatory experience includes preparing for and attending investigation interviews, negotiating complex settlements, contested hearings (some examples include insider trading, market manipulation, advisor registration, securities distributions, frauds and corporate disclosure issues) before the various tribunals and to Queen's Bench and Court of Appeal hearings or appeals arising from the decisions of such tribunals.
He graduated from the University of Alberta with an LLB in 1980 and was called to the Alberta Bar in 1981. In 1977, he graduated from the University of Alberta with a BA (with distinction).
Areas of Practice
· Commercial litigation, securities litigation and class actions
Ranking and Recognitions
· Martindale-Hubbell BV® Distinguished™ 4.4 out of 5 Peer Review Rating
· Recognized in the 2012 Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory (Litigation - Securities)
Commercial Litigation
· In addition to his practice in the area of regulatory defense and prevention, John has also been counsel on civil litigation and class action matters involving securities fraud, white collar crime, shareholder disputes, directors' liability, oppression, real estate disputes, corporate restructurings and employment issues.
Professional and Community Activities
· Member, Law Society of Alberta.
· Member of the Canadian Bar Association and Calgary Bar Association.
· Director, Hypertension Canada.
· Community Liaison Committee Member, Scenic Acres Community Association.
· Coach and Treasurer, Pee Wee and Atom minor hockey teams.
· Chair, Monitoring and Admissions Committee (Calgary).
· Chair, Associates Committee (Calgary).
· Chair, Conflicts Committee (Calgary).
· Regional Practice Group Leader, Commercial Litigation.