Decision record
Craig Selwyn Lee JENSEN
Allegation / charges
Guilty of Professional Misconduct
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
Dr Jensen, acting for a client in a property dispute, demanded $20,000 from the opposing party for defamation over a private email and pursued baseless claims against the opposing solicitor and the client's employer, disregarding s 487 LPA's absolute protection for complaints to the Commissioner. He made a baseless misconduct complaint against the opposing solicitor and sent aggressive, intimidatory correspondence to the Commissioner, refusing to cooperate. The Tribunal found professional misconduct on charges 2 and 3 and that charges 1 and 4 fell below professional standards. Given his complete lack of remorse, insight and refusal to correct his conduct, the Tribunal found he was not a fit and proper person to practise and ordered his name removed from the Roll. No express finding of dishonesty was made, though the Tribunal found allegations were made recklessly. Costs were reserved.
Duties found breached:
- Proper basis for allegations
- No improper communication with the court
- No baseless or threatened misconduct report
Aggravating factors:
- Total lack of remorse; said he regretted nothing and would act the same way again
- Lack of insight and self-awareness into inappropriateness of conduct
- Persistent, reckless assertion of indefensible legal propositions despite being alerted to s 487 LPA
- Intransigent defiance of and refusal to cooperate with the Commissioner
- Aggressive, intimidatory and offensive correspondence, including threats to seek costs against the investigating officer
Duties engaged
- Avoid wasting the court's time
- Proper basis for allegations
- No personal opinion or familiarity with court
- No improper communication with the court
- Honesty
- Integrity
- Professional independence
- Fair dealing with unrepresented parties
- Personal probity and fitness to practise
- Uphold public trust in the profession
- Act in the client's best interests
- Advise objectively, not a mere conduit
- Client confidentiality
- Keep client informed and respond promptly
- Protect capacity and vulnerable clients
- No standing bail or surety for client
- Competence
- Diligence and timeliness
- Firm governance, systems and compliance
- No baseless or threatened misconduct report
- Good faith and courtesy to colleagues
- No improper solicitation or touting
Documents
Source: https://www.lsc.qld.gov.au/queensland-discipline-register