Born in Hobart Tasmania, John studied law at the University of Adelaide and graduated with a Batchelor of Laws on 6 May 1982. He was then admitted to the Supreme Court of South Australia on 1 February 1983 as a Barrister and Solicitor. John was later admitted to the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory of Australia on 7 March 1983 as a Barrister and Solicitor and practiced in the Australian Legal Aid Office in Darwin for 3 years specialising in Criminal, Family and Civil Law and he subsequently worked at the Legal Services Commission of SA practicing similar areas of law for 1 year, before travelling to Europe on a working holiday.
John effectively ended up re-basing himself in Gibraltar and was admitted to the Supreme Court of England and Wales on 2 August 1993 as a Solicitor and he was subsequently admitted to the Supreme Court of Gibraltar on 19 January 1994 as a Solicitor. He practiced Company and commercial law and the law of trusts with the largest law firm in Gibraltar from April 1992 until he founded Verralls Barristers & Solicitors at the beginning of November 1999.
The firm ceased operating as a partnership on 30 June 2017 and commenced operating as Verralls Legal Limited, trading as Verralls Barristers & Solicitors on 1 July 2017.
John sits as a non-executive director on a number of Gibraltar based Insurance Companies and is the Chairman and Managing Director at Verralls.