Patrick Coleridge

About Patrick Coleridge

Patrick Coleridge is a Melbourne barrister on Dever’s List with a broad practice. His focus is public law, regulatory matters, the private-law liability of government, criminal law and inquiries, and he has particular experience in corporate and other financial misconduct, including white-collar crime. He was admitted in 2014 and came to the Bar in 2020.

Few barristers arrive at the Bar with a stronger grounding. He was associate to Justice Nettle in the High Court of Australia and to Justice Forrest in the Supreme Court of Victoria, and before coming to the Bar he was a senior lawyer and manager of the Appeals Practice at the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency, where he managed its Appeals Practice. He read with Ruth Shann SC, and his list names Rowena Orr as his senior mentor.

That experience shows in his work. His listed matters include appearances in the High Court, the Full Court of the Federal Court and the Victorian Court of Appeal, led by senior counsel including J Kirk SC and P Boulten SC in matters ranging from environmental law to criminal appeals, and unled appeals in the Supreme Courts of Victoria and the Northern Territory. He holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Juris Doctor with first-class honours from the University of Melbourne.

Notable matters

As listed on his Victorian Bar profile, with his role in each.

• Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum Inc v VicForests [2021] HCATrans 215High Court of AustraliaLed by J Kirk SC and J Watson
• VicForests v Friends of Leadbeater’s Possum Inc (No 2) [2021] FCAFC 92Full Court of the Federal CourtLed by J Kirk SC and J Watson
• Roy v O’Neill [2020] HCA 45; (2020) 95 ALJR 64High Court of AustraliaLed by P Boulten SC
• Mendieta-Blanco v The Queen [2021] HCATransHigh Court of AustraliaLed by R Shann SC and C Boston
• Clark v DPP [2021] VSCA 350Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of VictoriaUnled
• CDPP v Hutson [2021] QDCSR 78District Court of QueenslandLed by N Clelland QC and R Shann SC
• R v Eric RoryFull Court, Supreme Court of the Northern TerritoryUnled
• Mangurra v Rigby [2020] NTSC 6Supreme Court of the Northern TerritoryUnled
• Blackwell v BaraSupreme Court of the Northern TerritoryUnled

Practice areas

His Victorian Bar profile lists appellate, commercial, common law and personal injury, criminal, and public and administrative law, including commercial and common law class actions and competition and consumer law. His clerk’s profile adds constitutional law, coronial inquests, disciplinary and regulatory tribunals, discrimination, equity and trusts, immigration, native title, and medical and professional negligence.

How to brief him

Barristers are usually briefed by a solicitor on behalf of a client. Patrick Coleridge is clerked by Dever’s List at Owen Dixon Chambers East, Level 5, 205 William Street, Melbourne. His clerk can be reached on (03) 9225 7999 or through the Dever’s List profile. Direct access by members of the public is available only in limited circumstances; ask the clerk.