He was appointed to the Ontario Superior Court in 1991 where he spent half his time presiding over cases on the Commercial List and for some time was supervising judge of the Commercial List. His move to the Bench came after more than 30 years with Osler Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, where he practiced corporate and commercial law and served as a member of the firm's Executive Committee.

Mr. Ground was a Bencher of The Law Society of Upper Canada from 1975 to 1991 and served as Chair of the Finance Committee, Legal Education Committee, Professional Conduct Committee and Admissions Committee and was President of the Federation of Law Societies of Canada. He is currently a Life Bencher. He was on the executive of the Canadian Bar Association - Ontario and a member of the Canadian Bar Association National Council. From 1989 to 1994, he was a Member of the Ontario Law Reform Commission Advisory Board, and was a Member of the Commodity Futures Advisory Board of the Ontario Securities Commission from 1979 to 1983. He is a member of the Enforcement Advisory Committee of the Ontario Securities Commission.

He was called to the Ontario Bar with Honours in 1959 after completing his LL.B. at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law and B.A. (Honours) in Political Science at the U. of T. He was a Group Instructor with the Bar Admission Course in the Corporate and Commercial Law Section from 1963 to 1968 and head of the Section from 1969 to 1975. He also lectured in Corporate Finance at the University of Toronto Faculty of Law from 1969 to 1973. Jack has taken the Harvard Negotiation Project through the Advocates' Society and has received additional mediation training from the National Judicial Institute and the Stitt Feld Handy Group, a division of ADR Chambers.

He is involved with charitable organizations and is active in the community. He was a Member of the Board of Governors of the Stratford Shakespearean Festival from 1985 to 1988.