James is the Managing Director and the founder of Stokes Lawyers, having previously spent time in small and very large firms in business and taxation.

James is recognised as a leading private and commercial lawyer in the area and has assisted hundreds of business owners.

James’ approach is to build collaborative professional relationships with likeminded advisors, including accountants, financial planners, risk professionals and other lawyers.  He is a Chartered Tax Adviser with the Tax Institute of Australia and a Queensland Law Society Accredited Specialist in Business Law. He has presented as a speaker for both organisations as well as numerous legal education providers, national banks and community groups.

James is a director of Rivermount Education Limited and the Economics and Law Research Institute Limited.

Why Stokes?

James founded Stokes lawyers in 2013 to provide quality, pragmatic advice to family businesses.  He still likes it here.

Expertise

James is a private client and commercial lawyer specialising in assisting families, business owners and aspirational individuals to build and protect wealth.  As a dual-qualified professional, James is able to bring a broad experience to assist with –

• Estate Planning
• Trusts
• Business establishment and start-ups
• Restructuring
• Commercial contracts
• Partnership disputes
• Philanthropic entities and governance

In Australia’s property-centric wealth context, James and his team also assist a number of private clients who are property developers and management rights operators in their structuring and transactions.

Community

James is a heavily involved in the Logan business community, being involved as a committee member of the Logan Chamber of Commerce Inc since 2016, including service as vice president.  He is the founding President of Logan Angels Inc and was an inaugural director of Invest Logan, Logan City Council’s investment entity.  He has been a resident of the Logan area for over 30 years.

James founded Men’s Legal Service, a not-for-profit law firm, in 2016 and continues to serve on its board.

Major cases

Re Canavan [2017] HCA 45 (‘Citizenship 6 Case’)

Out of office

James enjoys both the virtues and challenges of a blended family, enjoying camps and LEGO with his children, travel with his wife Emma and clay target shooting on his own.