People

• Directory

Contact Information

jgillies@casselsbrock.com

Telephone: 416 860 6770
Fax: 416 644 9352

Cassels Brock
2100 Scotia Plaza
40 King Street West
Toronto, ON M5H 3C2
Canada

Download vCard

Profile

John Gillies

John Gillies is the Director of Practice Support at Cassels Brock. In this role, he collaborates with all firm members with a view to enhancing the culture of knowledge sharing through building appropriate organizational and technical structures to support the capture and dissemination of knowledge.

Following his call to the bar in 1977, John studied both European Union and French corporate and commercial law for two years at the Sorbonne. From 1979 to 1981, he worked as a foreign associate with a Paris law firm that specialized in corporate and commercial matters, with a particular emphasis on international financing.

Upon his return from Paris in 1981, John joined a large Toronto law firm as an associate, focusing on private company and banking transactions. In 1985, he left to join the Legal Division of CIBC. As Senior Counsel, he was responsible, among other things, for the bank’s lending work, the legal issues arising from the bank’s many branches, agriculture, franchising, and small business portfolios, and Aboriginal banking . He was also a member of the legal team spearheading the bank’s online banking services.

In 2000, John returned to the firm where he had previously been an associate as Director of Knowledge Management. For seven years, he was the senior member of the knowledge management team, and was actively involved in the launch and subsequent advancing of the firm’s knowledge management project.

Some of John’s conference presentations include:

• Capitalizing on the Client-Focused Practise Support Lawyer Role, Ark Conference, New York NY, February 2008 (invited speaker)
• KM in Support of Practice Groups and Client Teams, Ark Conference, Chicago IL, October 2007 (invited speaker)
• Expertise Location in KM Systems panel, International Legal Technology Association, Orlando FL, August 2006
• Cultural Barriers to a Successful KM Initiative in Large Law Firms, KW World Conference, San Jose CA, November 2005
• KM in a Large Law Firm, Toronto PM Forum, Toronto ON, February 2005

John is a director of The Piano Six Foundation and a member of the advisory board of the Taylor Statten Camping Bursary Fund. He plays jazz piano regularly and baroque cello occasionally.

Education

B.A., University of Toronto, 1972
LL.B., University of Toronto, 1975
Diplôme d’études Approfondies, l’Université de Paris I (Sorbonne), European Common Market Law, 1978
Diplôme d’études Approfondies, l’Université de Paris I (Sorbonne), French Corporate and Commercial Law, 1979

Call to the bar

Cassels Brock Knowledge Management Article

New Advanced Browser-Based System Makes Searching Easier

What Lawyers Want

John Gillies Reviews The Checklist Manifesto

John Gillies - Benefits of and Tips on Writing Well

Mark Young and John Gillies Quoted in Legal Project Management

More

How Can Law Firms (and KM) Profit from the Commoditization of Legal Services and an Increased Client Demand for Value?

Knowledge Management Lawyers' Summit

Knowledge Management PG: Where Is KM Now and Where Is It Going?

More