John P. Brown

John P. Brown

John P. Brown is a senior partner in our Litigation Group in Toronto and a member of the National Class Action Group. He chiefly practices civil and consumer/commercial litigation, with a particular focus on class actions. As senior counsel, he has extensive experience representing major corporations and institutions, both international and domestic, in class actions.

Mr. Brown is currently acting for international groups of companies in class actions across Canada, defending allegations of worldwide price-fixing conspiracies involving a wide range of products and services including computer parts, carbon products, air cargo services, elevator components, financial services and feed additives.

Mr. Brown is counsel for a national financial institution and is acting for it in class actions across Canada involving allegations that illegal interest rates are being charged for short-term consumer loans. This is the largest consumer class proceeding of its kind in Canada.

Mr. Brown is Canadian counsel for a major international aircraft manufacturer and is acting for it in a number of product liability class actions. He has defended aviation accident cases involving a wide variety of aircraft types and sizes for many years.

Mr. Brown is the Chair of the Consumer Litigation Committee of the International Bar Association and Chairman of the IBA Task Force on International Procedures and Protocols for Class Actions. He is the co-author of the Task Force's report on Guidelines for Recognizing and Enforcing Foreign Judgments for Collective Redress.

Mr. Brown is a contributing author of Defending Class Actions in Canada, a concise resource on class actions in Canada from a defence perspective, published by CCH.

He has published articles relating to class actions, including "Class Action Certification and Indirect Purchasers in Canada" and "Seeking Recognition of Canadian Class Action Judgements in Foreign Jurisdictions: Perils and Pitfalls."

Mr. Brown has presented papers on class actions at national and international conferences including:

· Class Actions and Multi Party Actions (Durban, South Africa 2002);

· Landmark Class Actions-Practice and Procedure (London, UK 2004);

· Contingency Fees and Class Actions (Auckland, New Zealand 2004);

· Financing Access to Justice (Prague, Czech Republic 2005);

· Class actions: Global Invasion or Liberation? (Chicago, USA 2006);

· Global Class Actions - Settlements and Judgments - Dream or Reality? (Singapore 2007);

· Class Actions in Canada (Lisbon, Portugal 2007);

· The Globalization of Class Actions (Oxford, UK 2007);

· Aggregate Litigation: The Way of the Future? (Judges' Educational Seminar 2007);

· The Defendant's Perspective on Aggregate Litigation (National Judicial Institute Class Action Seminar for Judges 2008);

· Class Action Report from Europe and the UK (Toronto, 2008); and

· Collective redress and class action judgments - where, when, why and how global judgments have been enforced (Buenos Aires, Argentina 2008).

Mr. Brown also has a special interest in international and domestic arbitration. He is the co-author of a chapter on international arbitration in Canada in the Global Arbitration Review.

Mr. Brown has acted in a full range of litigation matters before courts in Canada including arbitrations, mediations, and commercial litigation at all levels of trial and appeal. He has also appeared before many administrative boards and tribunals. He was successful in changing the law in Ontario relating to security for costs.

Mr. Brown has taught advocacy and civil procedure in the Bar Admission Course of the Law Society of Upper Canada, as well as appearing as a speaker/instructor in various litigation-related seminars/conferences. He is a member of the Advocates Society, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, the Canadian Bar Association and the International Bar Association.

Mr. Brown received his BA in 1978 (cum laude) and his LLB in 1981, both from the University of Toronto. He was called to the Ontario bar in 1983.