Ard, Shirley & Rudolph

John graduated with distinction from the Virginia Military Institution with a B.S. in chemistry in 1980. In 1984, John received his law degree from Wake Forest University School of Law, where he earned American Jurisprudence Awards for Evidence, Will, and Trusts.

Prior to joining the Firm, John worked as a solo practitioner concentrating his practice on representing The Loewen Group n/k/a The Alderwoods Group, a funeral and cemetery company, on regulatory, sales tax, acquisition, litigation, acquisitions, divestitures, and corporate issues. Additionally, John, as a partner with a local law Firm, served as general counsel for MHI Group, Inc., a funeral home and cemetery company listed on the New York Stock Exchange, advising them on a variety of matters involving regulatory compliance, litigation defense, acquisitions, and general corporate matters.

John began his legal career with a Holland & Knight, initially in cases involving antitrust and securities fraud, moving to product liability defense relating to Dupont's Tedlar clad fiberglass panels and ethylene di-bromide pollution from products manufactured by the Ethyl Corporation, and ultimately representing a local bank in commercial transactions, collections and defense of lender liability cases. John has also represented contractors, architects and engineers in professional liability claims and plaintiffs and defendants in personal injury claims.

John's practice continues to emphasize representation of companies in regulatory matters, litigation, acquisitions, divestitures, real property and general corporate matters. John also represents contractors and subcontractors in liability defense matters, lien foreclosures, contracts and in general corporate matters and home and business owners in defective and negligent construction claims. John has experience in Copyright, and Trademark litigation including infringement of building plans, infringement and defense of computer programs, and trademark defense and prosecution. He is a certified by the Florida Supreme Court as Circuit Civil Mediator with experience mediating complex construction claims and sales tax issues.