John E. Neufeld

In 1990 John was elected a bencher of the Law Society of Manitoba eventually serving on most of the committees of the Law Society, including terms as chairs of a number of committees including Education and Admissions, Standards, and Discipline. In 1995, John was elected vice-president of the Law Society of Manitoba, and later in that same year was appointed Queen’s Counsel by the Attorney General of Manitoba. In 1996 John was elected President of the Law Society of Manitoba. In 1997 John was appointed a life bencher of the Law Society of Manitoba. Since then, John has served on a number of disciplinary panels at the Law Society.

Since 1999 John was a sessional lecturer at the University of Manitoba Law School in real estate transactions and mortgages. In 1997 John was appointed a member of the Board of the Law Foundation of Manitoba on which he served until 2003. John has been an annual lecturer on rural real estate transactions at the Bar Admission Course of the Law Society of Manitoba, and an occasional lecturer and seminar leader in ethics and professional responsibilities. John has been a frequent lecturer at various continuing legal education seminars at the Law Society of Manitoba, including speaking on powers of attorney, elder law, proceeds of crime legislation, and the ethical practice of law. John has been a frequent speaker on various legal topics to numerous organizations including the Steinbach Credit Union, Niverville Credit Union, Farm Credit Canada, Federal Business Development Bank, Enterprises St. Boniface Inc., Manitoba Institute of Management, Steinbach New Horizons Club, Hanover School Division (Adult Education), Grunthal Menno Home, Grace Mennonite Church of Steinbach, Canadian Association of Farm Advisors, and Red River Community College, as well as various other private and public organizations.

In 2009 John was retained by the Province of Manitoba to advise it on the need for additional disclosure of information by sellers in residential real estate transactions in the Province. As a result of his report, significant changes were made to the standard form of Offer to Purchase prescribed for use by the real estate agents in Manitoba in order to enhance responsibilities of vendors to disclose to buyers known hidden defects in the property being sold. This has offered significant protection to buyers of Manitoba real estate.

John retired from Law on December 31, 2023