After university Jim
first entered the life insurance and investment field where he remained for 15
years. Jim received numerous sales awards in both Newfoundland and Labrador and
Alberta and also successfully completed the Chartered Life Undewriter and Chartered
Financial Consultant designations.
In 1991 Jim moved to
Windsor, Ontario to study law. He graduated from both the University of Windsor
with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree and University of Detroit Mercy with a
Juris Doctor (JD) degree. Jim was admitted to the Law Society of Upper Canada,
in 1996 and remained in Windsor for six more years, appearing before numerous
Ontario courts on behalf of hundreds of clients.
While in Ontario Jim
also served as legal member for the Office of the Commissioner of Review
Tribunals (Canada Pension Plan). In this role he heard Canada pension appeals
from nearly 500 disabled people in both Ontario and Manitoba.
In 2002 Jim brought his
experience back home to work where he grew up, setting up his office in
Daniel's Harbour, helping people people of his home province. Over the past 9
years he has been a formidable presence in the legal community. Prominent
examples of his work include the St. Anthony Air Ambulance case where he
obtained a Court Order to examine Minister of Health Jerome Kennedy, the first
time in Canadian history that a cabinet minister has been required to testify
under oath.
He has also racked up
several decisions against Alberta companies and the Alberta Workers
Compensation Board on behalf of workers from this province. In one case he
travelled to Calgary, AB to successfully represent his client, an injured
worker, from Cow Head. In another case he filed 10 liens against an Alberta oilsands
project on behalf of truckers from this province who weren't being paid. In
another he dragged a large Alberta company into court in Corner Brook for
wrongful dismissal of a Newfoundland worker.
At home Jim has appeared
in courts in St. John's, Clarenville, Grand Bank, Gander, Grand Falls, Corner Brook,
St. Anthony, Plum Point, Port au Choix, Rocky Harbour and Labrador. He has
handled so many fisheries cases provincewide that in some areas he is simply
known as the fisherman's lawyer.