John Lynnton Whitlock is an American lawyer based in Boston, Massachusetts, whose practice centers on bankruptcy, business, and finance law. Born in New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1946, he was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1973 and later became a partner at Palmer & Dodge. He has represented lenders, indenture trustees, and borrowers in finance transactions.
Background
John Lynnton Whitlock was born in 1946 in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded in 1718 by French colonists, New Orleans grew into Louisiana's largest city and a major port on the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast, a commercial role that shaped the city through the twentieth century.
He was born shortly after the Second World War, a period when American colleges and professional schools were expanding to meet the demand of a large postwar generation of students. His subsequent education and legal career were centered in the Boston area, where he attended Harvard and later practiced law.
Education
Whitlock earned a Bachelor of Arts cum laude from Harvard College in 1968. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States, and it forms the undergraduate college of Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
He completed a Juris Doctor cum laude at Harvard Law School in 1973, the same year he was admitted to the Massachusetts bar. Established in 1817, the school is one of the oldest law schools in the United States and a part of Harvard University.
Career
Whitlock was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1973, the year he completed his Juris Doctor at Harvard Law School. His first recorded professional position was as a partner at Palmer & Dodge, a Boston law firm that merged in 2005 with Edwards & Angell LLP to form Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge.
The combined firm continued to expand. In 2008 it merged with London-based Kendall Freeman, a firm with specialties in dispute resolution and insurance and reinsurance litigation, and in 2011 it combined with Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon to form Edwards Wildman Palmer. Professional profiles from the Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge period identify Whitlock as a partner practicing bankruptcy and business law in Boston.
Whitlock later served as of counsel at Locke Lord LLP, as identified in a 2022 author biography for an American Bar Association publication. In that biography he described representing lenders, indenture trustees, borrowers, and investors in secured and unsecured loan and bond transactions and structured financing.
He is currently counsel at Troutman Pepper Locke in Boston, a large multi-office American law firm. His practice there covers secured and unsecured financing, syndicated bank loans, standby letters of credit, and senior and subordinated bonds, including tax-exempt bonds, as well as bankruptcy and workout matters.
Whitlock chaired the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's Standing Advisory Committee on Rules of Professional Conduct. The Supreme Judicial Court is the highest court of Massachusetts, and the rules of professional conduct govern the ethical obligations of lawyers in the state. He also served as chair of the Business Law Section and of the Ethics Committee of the Boston Bar Association.
Achievements
Chaired the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's Standing Advisory Committee on Rules of Professional Conduct, an advisory body on the ethical rules that govern lawyers in Massachusetts.
(Article by Whitlock in Business Law Today, the publicatio...)
2022
Religion
Whitlock's documented religious affiliation is Lutheran. He chaired the budget committee of Christ Lutheran Church in Natick, Massachusetts, a congregation within the Lutheran tradition.
Lutheranism grew out of the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation led by Martin Luther in German-speaking lands. Its distinctive teachings emphasize scripture as the primary source of doctrine and the doctrine of justification by faith, and its congregations are organized around worship, preaching, and the sacraments.
Membership
Whitlock is a member of the American Bar Association, the national professional association of American lawyers, founded in 1878 to promote the legal profession and improve the administration of justice. Its membership includes practitioners across specialties and jurisdictions.
His Boston participation includes the Boston Bar Association, founded in 1876 as one of the older bar associations in the United States, where he has been a member of the Bankruptcy Law Section and served as chair of the Business Law Section and the Ethics Committee. He is also a member of the Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers, a group focused on legal ethics and the professional responsibility of lawyers, and of the American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers, which concerns commercial finance practice.
Whitlock has also been involved with two music organizations. He served as trustee and secretary of the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum Foundation, a foundation supporting the performing ensemble associated with Harvard and Radcliffe, and as president and director of The Boston Cecilia, Inc., a Boston-area choral organization.
American Bar Association
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United States
Member of the Bankruptcy Law Section; former chair of the Business Law Section and of the Ethics Committee
Boston Bar Association
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United States
Association of Professional Responsibility Lawyers
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United States
American College of Commercial Finance Lawyers
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United States
Trustee and secretary
Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum Foundation, Inc.
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United States
Former president and director; former treasurer and director
The Boston Cecilia, Inc.
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United States
References
John L. Whitlock - Troutman Pepper Locke
Firm profile describing his Boston finance and bankruptcy practice, his Harvard College and Harvard Law School credentials, his Massachusetts bar admission, and his bar association and committee roles.
John Whitlock - Lawyer - Avvo
Attorney profile describing his Boston practice, Massachusetts licensing in 1973, Harvard education, and professional associations.
