The Bywaters Timms Team

Janice Bywaters

Janice has a LLB (Hons) from QUT and was admitted in Queensland 1989. She is also admitted to the High Court of Australia. She is a skilled commercial lawyer with a broad depth of experience. She advises a wide variety of businesses on legal issues that arise in operating small to medium businesses.

For many years she practiced in the property law area and still advises many clients on both residential and commercial property. The firm acts for a number of independent supermarket operators.

Janice has a particular interest in the area of franchising. She places a heavy emphasis on maintaining the franchisor/franchisee relationship. She can also provide legal advice on all aspects of franchising issues including trade practices and intellectual property areas, and the drafting of franchise agreements, disclosure and related documents.

She is the current chairperson of the Queensland Law Society Franchise Committee, a member of the Queensland Law Society Business Law Committee and a member of the Franchise Council of Australia Legal Committee. Janice was also a national board member of the Franchise Council of Australia and is past president of the Queensland Chapter of the Franchise Council. She was a member of the Queensland Chapter Committee for over 10 years.

Janice has presented numerous papers on competition law (trade practices), commercial law and franchising including presentations on behalf of the Queensland Law Society and to the Legal Symposium held by the Franchise Council of Australia. She is a qualified mediator and has attended many successful mediations on behalf of clients.

Elizabeth Gore-Jones

Elizabeth studied at QUT and was admitted to practice in Queensland in 1994 and is admitted to the High Court of Australia. Elizabeth has extensive experience and expertise as a commercial and business lawyer and believes in balancing the commercial and legal elements of transactions.

Having a particular interest in franchising, Elizabeth acts for franchisors and franchisees alike and has acted for many renowned franchisors. She has worked with many business owners in franchising their business. Generally, Elizabeth provides all of the commercial, business and franchising legal advice for her clients and she enjoys working closely with her clients.

She is a member of the Queensland Law Society Franchise Committee. She is a past member of the Franchise Council of Australia Legal Committee and the Queensland Chapter of the Franchise Council of Australia. Elizabeth is often called upon to present seminars including to other lawyers about commercial law and franchising law including presenting at the North Queensland Legal Symposium in both 2010 and 2011. She also lectures for the Bond University PLT course about franchise law.

Jessica

Jessica is the personal assistant and secretary extraordinaire to both Elizabeth and Janice. She keeps them both in line.

Jessica has fantastic interpersonal skills and is generally able to assist clients regarding general enquiries, making appointments and accounts.
She is also wonderful at deflecting calls from tele marketers!

Our solicitors regularly attend all kinds of seminars to ensure they are up to date in the areas in which they practice. The firm is an active member of the Franchise Council of Australia.