LAW SOCIETY LIKELY TO INVESTIGATE JENSEN

The Law Society is expected to launch an inquiry next week into the
convictions of Napier criminal lawyer Philip Jensen for growing and
possessing cannabis.

The president of the Hawke's Bay District Law Society, Nevin Dawson,
said yesterday that the society's council was due to meet on Tuesday
and he expected an investigation to follow.

Jensen, 44, was convicted and fined $1250 in Napier District Court
yesterday for growing cannabis at a remote plot in Te Pohue, on the
Napier-Taupo Rd.

He was fined $250 for possessing cannabis, but was cleared by a jury
after a two-day trial during which he faced a charge of possessing
cannabis for supply.

Mr Dawson said that in his 24 years as a lawyer in Hawke's Bay he did
not recall any other lawyers being convicted for a criminal offence,
though there had been lawyers convicted for drink-driving.

The society would act if someone laid a complaint or if members of
the council were aware of circumstances that warranted an inquiry.

The Law Society's law practitioners disciplinary tribunal secretary,
Jock Nicolson, said Jensen's admission during the trial that he was a
cannabis addict, and evidence that he used the drug before he went to
work and during work hours, "may need to be looked into" but he did
not want to "pre-judge" the issues.

Mr Nicolson said it did not follow that because Jensen said he was an
addict that his legal practice was affected.

He said he did not know if any lawyers had been disciplined by the
society for growing and possessing cannabis.

Lawyers can be charged by the society if they are believed to be
guilty of conduct unbecoming a lawyer, for negligence, incompetence
or conviction of an offence punishable by imprisonment.

Lawyers found guilty can be struck off, fined or made to work under
supervision.