John commenced working in criminal law while completing his dual degree and was admitted as a solicitor in 2001. He worked exclusively in criminal defence in private practice for more than 10 years and was first recognised as a specialist in his field by the Queensland Law Society in 2006.

John was called to the Bar in 2012 and has continued to work exclusively in criminal defence. He appears at all stages of criminal proceedings and regularly appears in trials, pre-trial applications and sentences in all courts in Queensland, as well as New South Wales, South Australia and the Northern Territory. He provides strategic and tactical advice on decisions that need to be made in complex criminal proceedings. John is passionate about protecting the rights of individuals against the increasingly invasive powers of the State and has a substantial practice in applications to exclude evidence on the basis that it has been unfairly or unlawfully obtained by police.