Rate My Professor Stephen Bottomley

Stephen Bottomley is an Emeritus Professor of Commercial Law at the Australian National University (ANU) College of Law. He holds a BA LLB (Hons) from Macquarie University and an LLM from the University of New South Wales. Bottomley joined the ANU Law School in 1988, advancing to Head of School and Deputy Dean before serving as Dean of the ANU College of Law from 2013 to 2017. In these roles, he oversaw the school's operations and strategic direction. His academic career spans over three decades, during which he taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses in corporate law, takeovers law, and corporate governance. Bottomley's research expertise encompasses corporate governance, law and regulation, corporate theory, corporate regulation, and government-owned enterprises. A key focus of his recent work is the role of shareholders in corporate governance, particularly shareholder responsibility. He led funded projects including 'One Day, We'll All Invest This Way! Regulating Online Investment' (2005-2009) and 'The Role of Shareholders Meetings in Improving Corporate Governance in Australian Public Companies' (1999-2001). Additionally, he co-presents the Law in Context podcast with Emeritus Professor Stephen Parker.

Bottomley has produced influential scholarship, including books such as The Responsible Shareholder (Edward Elgar, 2021), Contemporary Australian Corporate Law (Cambridge University Press, 2020, second edition, with Kath Hall, Peta Spender, and Beth Nosworthy), The Constitutional Corporation: Rethinking Corporate Governance (Ashgate, 2007), Law in Context (Federation Press, fifth edition 2023, with Simon Bronitt), Interpreting Statutes (edited with Sarah Corcoran, Federation Press, 2005), Commercial Law and Human Rights (edited with David Kinley, Ashgate, 2002), and Directing the Top 500 – Corporate Governance and Accountability in Australian Companies (with Roman Tomasic, Allen & Unwin, 1993). Key articles include 'The Complexity of Corporate Law' (44 Sydney Law Review 415, 2022), 'Rethinking the Law on Shareholder-Initiated Resolutions at Company General Meetings' (43 Melbourne University Law Review 93, 2019), 'Corporate Law, Complexity and Cartography' (35 Australian Journal of Corporate Law 142, 2020), and 'The Notional Legislator: The Australian Securities and Investments Commission's Role as a Law-Maker' (31 Federal Law Review 1, 2011). His work has earned the Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law (FAAL), the 2008 Hart Socio-Legal Book Prize, the 2011 Leslie Zines Prize for Excellence in Legal Research, and the Inaugural Lifetime Achievement Legal Research Medal in the 2020 Australian Legal Research Awards.