A Queensland law lecturer who was caught with dozens of explicit images of victims he secretly filmed, including an underage girl, has accepted a recommendation that he be struck from the roll.
Three years after a conviction for making and possessing child exploitation material, the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal recommended that former University of Southern Queensland law lecturer, Liam Shane Scott, be removed from the roll.
In May 2022, Scott pleaded guilty to 15 criminal offences in the District Court of Toowoomba, including one count of making child exploitation material, two counts of using a carriage service to access child exploitation material, and 11 counts of recording in breach of privacy.
Scott was sentenced to various concurrent terms of imprisonment, the highest of which was two years, suspended after four months, and two years of probation. On Commonwealth offences, he was sentenced to 18 months, suspended after four, and a two-year good behaviour bond.
The court was told the offending occurred between March 2015 and September 2020, when police executed a search warrant and discovered hidden cameras were placed in the guest bathroom and bedroom.
The 12 victims were house guests, extended family members and colleagues aged between 15 and 43. There was evidence Scott had taken a portable camera into victims’ own homes to secretly spy on them.
In addition to the material he created, police discovered hundreds of search terms and thousands of downloaded images from a common genre of child exploitation material that depicts girls between 10 and 14.
At his sentencing, Judge Katherine McGinness said it was a “significant fall from grace” and noted that while Scott had achieved a lot in his time as a lawyer, he would “no longer be able to do that in the future”.
“These people were entitled to feel safe when they visited you and your partner, and the child, in particular, was entitled to feel safe in her own home. Her parents had welcomed you there and they trusted you, and you abused their trust,” Judge McGinness said.
QCAT president Justice Kerri Mellifont – along with panel members Petrina Macpherson and Patrice McKay – said an Australian lawyer who abuses their position of trust by engaging in criminal offences involving children “justifies a finding that the practitioner is not a fit and proper person to engage in legal practice”.
While they accounted for Scott’s cooperation with the tribunal and early acknowledgment of the wrongdoing, the tribunal said the offending was so serious as to warrant a serious sanction.
“Whilst Scott has shown shame, remorse, insight and engaged in treatment, the tribunal is of the view that the nature of the offending committed by Scott is to demonstrate such character flaws that a suspension is not sufficient,” Justice Mellifont said.
“The offending was over many years, with a degree of sophistication and premeditation and abuse of trust. The offending resulted in 15 recorded convictions and attracted actual terms of imprisonment.”
The case: Legal Services Commissioner v Scott [2025] QCAT 334.
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
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