Born and raised in Montreal, Brian attended Concordia University and McGill University before moving to Vancouver in 1975. There he attended the University of British Columbia, receiving a B.A. (Political Science) in 1977 and an LL.B in 1981. He was called to the British Columbia Bar in 1982.

As a longtime aficionado of theatre and cinema, Brian was determined to try his hand in that line of work. So after a year in film school, he began freelancing in the Canadian film and television industry. From 1984 to 1988, he was the production manager or line producer on a wide range of productions from U.S. feature films to Canadian mini-series to Japanese commercials. Moving to Toronto in 1989, Brian worked until 1994 as a legal and business affairs consultant and independent producer of television programs and feature films. Among other things, during that period Brian co-produced a Canadian feature film shot on location in Guyana, and served as a film investment analyst at the Ontario Film Development Corporation.

In 1995, Brian returned to the practice of law, spending the next nine years with three top-level national law firms. At Cassels Brock & Blackwell from 1995-97, Brian supplemented his in-depth knowledge of entertainment law with expertise in intellectual property law (trademarks & copyrights) and business law. He then spent the next three years with Lang Michener, where he added computer and technology law to his legal palette. Putting this experience together, from 2001 to 2003 Brian headed the Media, Entertainment & Communications Law Group at the Toronto office of Davis & Company.

Ferstman Law Office opened for business in 2003. Today, Brian's practice covers the four areas – Entertainment & Media Law, Computer & Technology Law, Business & Corporate Law, and Trademark & Copyright Law – to which he has devoted his career.

In addition to his legal work, Brian is a member of several industry organizations, including the Directors Guild of Canada, the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, the Computer Law Association, the Intellectual Property Institute of Canada, the Canadian Bar Association, and the Ontario Bar Association.