Queensland Law Society sues bankrupt former Brisbane lawyer Michael Kemp over new company

A bankrupt former Brisbane lawyer has just been sued by the law society over his audacious bid to get back in the legal game.

Queensland Law Society has sued bankrupt former Brisbane lawyer Michael Kemp.

The Queensland Law Society has sued bankrupt former Brisbane lawyer Michael Kemp over his audacious efforts to get back in the legal game.

The peak industry body launched the Supreme Court action last week, seeking orders to delete a raft of online posts which promote his no-win/no-fee “personal injury assistance’’ referral service trading as Kemp Help.

The first hearing is scheduled for next Wednesday and no defence has yet been lodged in the case.

Kemp started the business shortly after he was struck off as a solicitor in June as a result of his personal bankruptcy and the company’s now-inactive website included a disclaimer that it was “not a registered law firm’’.

Michael Kemp

But the QLS maintains in court documents that Kemp, who identifies himself as CEO of Kemp Help, must be “restrained…from representing or advertising that he is entitled to engage in legal practice’’.

Backed up by a thick pile of five affidavits from QLS operatives, the lawsuit specifically targets multiple Kemp Help postings on Facebook and Instagram, his profile on LinkedIn and “Call Kempy’’ material on Instagram.

It includes screenshots and other exhaustive details of Kemp’s impudent taunting of the QLS, as well as his bizarre efforts to run cash giveaway contests for clients.

“Massive shout out to the Queensland Law Society,’’ one posting in early July says.

“You guys have been amazing in helping me grow Kemp Help and all my other companies.

“It’s so good to see such a helpful government agency putting in the weekend work to help people. Massive thanks guys! Helped me put the kids through private school.’’

There was more on August 27. “Queensland Law Society…You have made KEMP HELP even bigger!!...LETS gooooooooo…2022 will be amazing! GOD IS GOOD,’’ he wrote.

The business was apparently doing so well that Kemp flagged a $1000 cash giveaway on a Facebook page on August 18, according to the QLS documents.

“To celebrate the enormous growth of Kemp Help, we are giving away $1000 CASH to one lucky winner,’’ the post said. The winner was supposed to be picked last week but it remains unclear if the draw went ahead.

There was also a $3000 giveaway for a family “to start the first term of 2022 school with books/uniforms and school fees!’’ The drawing is set down for new year’s day.

The cash splash will no doubt enrage creditors of his now-defunct legal practice Kemp Law, which collapsed in February owing $8.15m. Those owed money are highly unlikely to claw anything back.

That debacle prompted a secured lender to win court orders in May bankrupting Kemp, who had personal debts of $7.2m and just $25 in the bank.

The QLS then banned him in late June from practising law for five years, noting that he was “no longer a fit and proper person’’.

Kemp, who sold another one of his Hope Island mansions last month for a sum believed to be north of $2m, did not return a call seeking comment on Thursday.

In a recent report to creditors, Kemp’s bankruptcy trustee alleges he may have committed five offences by failing to disclose key financial benefits and taking steps to shield assets.

Those omissions could result in Kemp’s three-year term of bankruptcy getting extended to either five or eight years.