Decision record
Craig Leonard Stevenson
Allegation / charges
In respect of each of Charges 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, there is a finding that the Respondent engaged in professional misconduct
Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision
Craig Leonard Stevenson, a sole practitioner solicitor, was found to have engaged in professional misconduct on five charges for failing to respond to notices issued under s 443(3) of the Legal Profession Act 2007 (Qld) between June 2018 and May 2019. The Tribunal accepted that these failures were explained (though not excused) by significant personal and professional stressors and mental health issues (adjustment disorder and major depression). The Respondent had engaged fully in treatment and mentoring following the first hearing. He was publicly reprimanded, fined $5,000, ordered to satisfy conditions on his 2022 and 2023 practising certificate renewals regarding ongoing treatment and mentoring, and ordered to pay the applicant's standard costs. No dishonesty was found.
Duties found breached:
Aggravating factors:
- Repeated nature of the failures (five instances)
- Failure to cooperate with the regulatory authority is a serious matter
- Need for general deterrence to the profession
Mitigating factors:
- Significant personal and professional stressors at the time
- Mental health issues including adjustment disorder progressing to major depression
- Full engagement with psychiatric/psychological treatment and rehabilitation
- Engagement with Queensland Law Society mentoring program
- No disciplinary history
- No suggestion of lack of fitness, impropriety or dishonesty
- Facts admitted and not in dispute
Duties engaged
Other decisions involving this respondent
Matched by respondent name — may include a different person with the same name.
Documents
Source: https://www.lsc.qld.gov.au/queensland-discipline-register