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Lawyer found with child abuse images removed from roll
A Western Australian lawyer who was in possession of 17,544 images and 1,391 videos containing child exploitation material has had his name removed from the roll of practitioners in addition to serving a three-year prison sentence.
Naomi Neilson
Content warning: This article refers to child exploitation material.
Following an investigation, Western Australian Police identified that in January 2019, Mr Mizen was able to access child exploitation material over a “peer-2-peer” (P2P) network and executed a search warrant at his home and office. A search of a thumb drive and external hard drive revealed a total of 1,448 images and 320 videos.
Across all devices seized at both his workplace and home, police obtained a total of 17,544 images and 1,391 videos of child exploitation material, ranging from images of children involving nudity through to “sadism, bestiality and bondage”. Mr Mizen admitted that he had been in possession of such material for at least 10 years.
In making the order to remove his name from the roll and referring to the original finding, the court found: “The tribunal said of the respondent’s misconduct that there could hardly be a clearer case of a practitioner demonstrating that he is not a fit and proper person to be an Australian legal practitioner. We agree.
“The respondent has no place in the legal profession. His criminal offending and what it reveals about his character is wholly inconsistent with the integrity required of a legal practitioner. The respondent, who did not oppose the [strike off] order sought by the committee, did not suggest otherwise.”
Under the Child Exploitation Material Sentencing Scheme, the videos were characterised anywhere between category one – depictions of children involving nudity, underwear, sexually suggestive poses, genital areas and solo urination – and category five, which consists of sadism, bestiality and child abuse.
The sentencing judge described the category five images held by Mr Mizen as being “particularly significant… both in terms of their level of depravity but also in terms of the pain that can be seen on the children who are depicted”.
The sentencing judge added that while the practitioner had not engaged in any physical abuse of children himself, his interest and conduct enabled that physical abuse to receive a market and fuelled the demand for the production of that type of material. Mr Mizen was said to not have any significant indication of remorse.
Help is available. Contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Respect on 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732). Every law society and bar association of each state also has further contacts available on their respective websites.
The judgement can be found on AustLII and JADE: Legal Profession Complaints Committee v Mizen [2021] WASC 434 (6 December 2021)
Naomi Neilson
Naomi Neilson is a senior journalist with a focus on court reporting for Lawyers Weekly.
You can email Naomi at:
