Patrick Ritchie
Special Counsel, Brisbane
I help clients navigate complex workplace health and safety, employment, and investigations matters. With over 12 years of national and international experience, I deliver strategic, commercially focused advice across the resources, construction, government, and education sectors.

Career highlights

  • Awarded the Judge Ralph J Perdriau Prize No. 1 – First Place in Employment Law for 2025, Master of Laws, University of Sydney. 
  • Acting for a major entertainment company following a high-profile workplace incident involving multiple fatalities, including regulatory investigations by the relevant safety authority and subsequent coronial inquest. 
  • Advised a major construction company in respect of a fatal workplace incident, including all stages of the regulatory investigation by Work Health and Safety Queensland, and subsequent successful defence of a prosecution by the Office of the Work Health and Safety Prosecutor. 
  • Acting for several national construction and property companies in respect of the Commission of Inquiry into the CFMEU, including responding to coercive statutory notices and instructing senior counsel. 
  • Undertook secondment to BHP's Ethics & Investigations Team and conducted complex workplace investigations into issues such as sexual harassment, racism, fraud, conflicts of interest, discrimination and harassment using a person-centric, trauma-informed and safety-focused approach.  
  • Undertook secondment to BHP's Coal Legal Team and provided advice to the business about all aspects of Coal Mining Safety and Health Bill 1999 (Qld) and other applicable safety regimes.  
  • Advising international companies about all aspects of Australian employment law and employee mobility. 
  • Undertook a secondment to the Royal Commission into Trade Union Governance & Corruption in 2016 and conducted investigative case study enquiries into corrupt conduct in the trade union movement. 
  • Practised employment law in London between 2017 and 2021 at leading global law firms, advising major international clients including Blackstone, Carlyle, CVC, Deutsche Bank, Digital Realty, Facebook and KKR.