[1] He was admitted to the bar in 1927 and commenced the practice of law in St. Paul, Minnesota, and later, Faulkton, South Dakota.

[2] Shortly after beginning his legal practice in Faulkton, Bottum was elected Faulk County State's Attorney in 1932, and was re-elected in 1934.

[4] In 1944, Bottum resigned from the Board and successfully ran for Pennington County State's Attorney;[5] he was re-elected in 1946.

[7] In 1950, Bottum ran for Congress from South Dakota's 2nd congressional district, but lost in the Republican primary to Ellis Berry.

Among the trials over which he presided was the controversial prosecution of the Native American activist Russell Means by then-Attorney General Bill Janklow.