Articles
Occasionally the principals of Bottoms English are asked to present papers at industry functions. John has gone on to develop an interest as a writer and Anne occasionally pens a ditty for staff or local identities. This page is a selection of papers and material produced by John and Anne that might be of interest.
Why should my business conduct an IP Audit?
It is stating the obvious to say that your customers are your business - so imagine what would happen if a trusted employee took your client list, set up in competition against you and used the connections they had made while working for you to approach your clients?
They would be stealing from you just as if they had stolen money from the cash register.
McLaren Knight Seminar, 7 June, 2011
Business and Estate Planning
I have been asked to talk to you tonight for half an hour about business and estate planning. You will have all been told by your accountants, your financial planners, your bank managers, that you should have a will.
Unfortunately it is like everything in this modern world, it is very complicated and that amazing and elusive creature the "simple Will" does not exist.
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General Skilled Migration:
Changes to the most popular visa stream from 1 July 2011
If you intend to apply for one of the GSM visas in the new financial year, below we will endeavour to summarise the changes you will have to consider.
Under the new scheme, points will no longer be awarded for your occupation however it will have to be on the Skilled Occupations List or the State/Territory Nominated Skilled Occupations list.
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A Lawyer Is a Problem Solver
by John Bottoms
People often say to me that being a lawyer must be very boring. I think they imagine that you are bound up in a sea of paper. It is certainly true that you do have to write things down and also read things – and of course it always helps if you are an advocate to have detailed notes about the points you intend to make. But being a lawyer involves much more than just paperwork. The reality is that, whilst you might be called a lawyer, you are really a “problem solver”.
Click to read more >>Death In Paradise
One thing which has come to concern me very much is how we all make provision for our ultimate demise. I once went to an estate planning conference where one of the practitioners expert in the field read out a series of advertisements from local suburban newspapers by local solicitors and pointed out their ineffectiveness. “They are trying to sell death” he said “Who is interested in that”. They should be trying to sell and encourage provision for “life”.
I suspect a lot of the problems associated with organising Wills and estate planning relate to the problem we all have in communicating the issues involved to the community.
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How Does the Lawyer Help When You Buy a House/Land?
Lawyers can help in three ways:
Before you sign the contract
Your lawyer can look at the contract the agent gives you and check it to make sure your interests are protected and explain what action you must take. They will also advise you about what it will cost you for stamp duty and other fees.
After you sign the contract
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Paw Paw Lawyer – Tales of Legal practise in North Australia by John Bottoms
From the stark, red desert escarpments of the MacDonnell Ranges in Central Australia and the Ayers Rock (Uluru) land claim of 1978 to the palm fringed tropical sands and rainforest of Far North Queensland, from prosecutor to defence lawyer, author John Bottoms covers a fascinating diversity of the law as it is practised in the deep North.
As instructing solicitor in the “Wik” Native Title case dealing with the extinguishment of pastoral leases, for the Thayorre speaking Peoples of Pormpuraaw, the Second Applicants, he gives an inside view of that landmark case.
As the lawyer for the hapless skipper charged with manslaughter after the loss of American divers, Tom and Eileen Lonaghan off Port Douglas on Australia Day 1998, he is able to give a fascinating insight based on his interview with “E” entertainment channel, into the what and why of what really happened. Paw Paw Lawyer is the story of a legal professional who decided to change his lifestyle almost as soon as he left law school, and who has found peace, tranquillity and fulfilling legal work in Australia’s deep North.
John Bottoms travels between his home at Lake Tinaroo and Yorkeys Knob, a northern beachside suburb of Cairns and continues to work at the law firm in Cairns he helped found 30 years ago.
In 1921, Mr Kezilas Snr - who had previously come to Australia and obtained employment as a shipwright with the Cairns Harbour Board - returned to Megisti, the Greek island of his birth, married Mrs Kezilas and returned with her to Cairns. In 1924 Mr Kezilas built a home for his family at 63 Mulgrave Road, where their children were born and where the family lived. Mr Jim Kezilas, a local builder, was one of the children born in the house. After the deaths of Mr and Mrs Kezilas, the property was sold in 1984 and subsequent owners added to the house to make it into office premises. The property was purchased by the current owners, John Bottoms and Anne English, in August 2007 for use as business premises for their law firm, Bottoms English Lawyers. John and Anne have decided to name the premises "Megisti House" to maintain the link between themselves and the original owners of the property.