A Brisbane lawyer who advertised his services after the cancellation of his solicitor practicing certificate is to be struck off the roll and publicly reprimanded.
Michael William Kemp was found to have engaged in professional misconduct and unsatisfactory professional conduct for his behaviour between 2017 and 2021, resulting in the orders last week by Justice Freeburn in the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
That conduct also included failing to provide a costs statement, failing to progress a matter in a timely way, invoicing a client without their authority or knowledge, and failing to make compulsory superannuation contributions on behalf of six former employees.
In the decision delivered in Brisbane on Thursday, Justice Freeburn also ordered Mr Kemp to pay $7500 in compensation to a former employee for pecuniary loss, and to pay the legal costs of both the former employee and the Legal Services Commissioner (LSC).
In June 2021, Queensland Law Society cancelled Mr Kemp’s PC on the grounds he was no longer a fit and proper person to hold it.
In August 2021, he made statements on the Kemp Help website which included “injured yourself at work or in a motor vehicle accident? Get free advice from Kemp Help”; “At Kemp Help, we ensure you are dealing directly with Michael and his team who become initially knowledge about your care”; “At Kemp, We Care…Who is eligible for personal injury claims?”; and “No Win, No Fee, No Risk”.
Similar advertising was posted on the Kemp Help Facebook page, Kemp Help Instagram page and Call Kempy Instagram page.
“Finally, despite not having a practising certificate, Mr Kemp also had an active social media presence on LinkedIn,” Justice Freeburn said.
“Between 29 June and 27 August 2021 Mr Kemp, or somebody on his behalf, posted on Kemp LinkedIn16 separate messages.
“Those messages, amongst other things, boasted of new clients, advertised the new Kemp Help website, and broadcast that Kemp Help was open as usual and was available ‘24/7’.”
In September 2021, QLS obtained an injunction to restrain Mr Kemp.
Justice Freeburn said there was no explanation for the lawyer “maintaining a vigorous social media presence whilst not holding a practising certificate”.
“The conduct is a sustained course of conduct. The evident objective was to generate professional work for his legal practice,” he said.
“All of that was during a period when his practising certificate was cancelled and whilst he was prohibited from representing or advertising that he was entitled to engage in legal practice.
“Without explanation Mr Kemp has failed to comply with the requirements of the law. The regulator was forced to bring proceedings to ensure compliance.
“The sustained conduct here is akin to failing to comply with an order of a professional or disciplinary body and continuing to do so until compelled to stop.
“In the circumstances, the conduct comprised professional misconduct.”
Mr Kemp was found to have engaged in unsatisfactory professional conduct when he:
- billed a client four invoices without her knowledge or authority in 2018;
- billed a client for expenses they did not authorise and did not know about in 2018;
- failed to provide a costs statement to a client but certified that one had been provided in 2019; and
- failed to progress a matter in a timely way between 2018 and 2021.
- This misconduct comprises professional misconduct.
He was found to have engaged in professional misconduct when between 2017 and 2021, he failed to make compulsory superannuation contributions on behalf of six former employees, in the amount of $291,572.
“The failure to pay those amounts, or to cause those payments to be made, was a breach of Mr Kemp’s legal obligations in connection with his practice as a solicitor,” Justice Freeburn said.
“They are serious breaches that fall short, to a substantial degree, of the standard of professional conduct that would be expected from competent members of the profession of good repute.”
In determining sanction, Justice Freeburn acknowledged the LSC’s submissions that features personal to Mr Kemp should be considered, including his co-operation in admitting the conduct and the degree of public shaming he had already suffered.
“But weighing against those factors are Mr Kemp’s serious failures to comply with the standard of conduct required of a legal professional. His failures have adversely affected his clients and his practice’s employees,” he said.
“Over a variety of social media posts, Mr Kemp flagrantly demonstrated a lack of respect for the lawful actions of the QLS – a regulator of the profession.
“He continued over months to hold himself out as entitled to practise, when he was not permitted to do so. The QLS was required to obtain an injunction in the Supreme Court.”
He said there ought to be a strong public protection element, as well as a deterrent element, to the tribunal’s orders.
“As the LSC submits, Mr Kemp’s conduct is sufficiently serious as to warrant a substantial sanction that adequately recognises the gravity of the conduct and provides personal and general deterrence,” he said.
Justice Freeburn rejected Mr Kemp’s application for a non-publication order, saying it was important to remember that transparency and accountability were objectives of the Legal Profession Act 2007 (Qld).
Share this article