Douglas John Winning

Findings — machine-extracted (anthropic-batch:claude-opus-4-8); verify against the decision

Douglas John Winning, a Queensland solicitor admitted in 1986, faced three charges. Charge 1 concerned his conviction for official corruption (offering a bribe to police during a drink-driving stop); Charge 2 concerned running a defence at a rape trial not based on his client's instructions, which led to the conviction being quashed on appeal; Charge 3 concerned a grossly offensive email intended for the ODPP. The Tribunal (Burns J) found professional misconduct on Charges 1 and 2 and unsatisfactory professional conduct on Charge 3. Given his conduct and disciplinary history, he was found permanently unfit to practise. The Tribunal recommended his name be removed from the local roll and ordered him to pay the Commissioner's standard costs (no amount specified). No express finding of dishonesty was made, though the Tribunal referred to a lack of trustworthiness and integrity.

Duties found breached:

• No baseless or threatened misconduct report

Aggravating factors:

• Significant disciplinary history including prior findings of professional misconduct/unsatisfactory professional conduct for similar offensive and discourteous conduct (2008, 2015, 2017)
• Seriousness of the criminal conduct (official corruption) undermining trustworthiness and integrity
• Conduct in Charge 2 undermined the administration of criminal justice

Mitigating factors:

• Apologised for the email, describing it as sent out of frustration, and apologised to the court
• Consented to the orders sought, agreeing his name should be removed from the roll