The Honourable Justice Thomas Bradley

The Pinnacle Foundation’s first Queensland-based ambassador, Justice Bradley is a judge of the Supreme Court of Queensland. His Honour was born in Cairns. He was educated at St Bernard’s School and Clairvaux College in Brisbane and graduated from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Laws.

He was admitted as a solicitor, after completing articles of clerkship at Morris Fletcher & Cross. He was appointed as a senior associate of the firm, which later became Minter Ellison. He practised as a solicitor in commercial litigation and, later, in corporate advisory work. He served on secondment in corporate counsel roles for Cable & Wireless Optus, Incitec, and Shell Australia.

His Honour was a part-time lecturer in law at the University of Queensland (1993-1996) and the Queensland University of Technology (1992-1994). His Honour is an Honorary Life Member of the University of Queensland Law Alumni Association.

In 2000, he commenced practice as a barrister at the private Bar in Brisbane. In 2013, he was commissioned as Queen’s Counsel. His practice at the Bar was predominantly in commercial disputes with a particular focus on economic regulation, competition, energy and resources, and construction. He was a member of the Bar Council and treasurer of the Bar Association of Queensland. He served as a deputy chair of the Competition & Consumer Committee of the Law Council of Australia Business Law Section.

In 2018, Justice Bradley was appointed to the Supreme Court. His Honour is the Court’s Commercial List principal judge and the senior judge on the Class Action List.

In 2021, Justice Bradley delivered the Fifth Annual Pride in Law Address, Some Thoughts on Love, Work, and the Future.

His Honour is chair of the Supreme Court Library Legal Heritage Sub-Committee. Justice Bradley is the Queensland honorary correspondent of the Selden Society. Founded in 1887, it is the oldest learned society and publisher dedicated to the study of English legal history.

Justice Bradley maintains an active interest in arts and culture. He is the chair of the Brisbane Festival Giving Committee, which raises funds to support the annual Brisbane Festival. He is chair of the Brisbane Writers Festival, the longest continuous writer’s festival in Australia. He was president and then chair of Access Arts (2013-2023), a body working to support access to the arts for people with disability or disadvantage. He is a member of the Queensland Committee of The Australiana Fund, an independent fundraising body with a national collection of historic artworks to enhance the décor of the four official residences of the Governor-General and Prime Minister of Australia.

His Honour served on the Council of the National Library of Australia (2014-2018) and the Foundation Committee of the Queensland Art Gallery/Gallery of Modern Art (2013-2019). He remains a patron of the National Library and a vice-patron of the QAGOMA Foundation.

His own arts career peaked at age nine, when he won second prize in charcoal drawing at the Mount Gravatt Show and played Eric the Red in Vic the Viking.

Justice Bradley is a Fellow of the Royal Numismatic Society and a member of the Royal Queensland Historical Society and the Royal Geographical Society of Queensland.

Justice Bradley was appointed as an ambassador to The Pinnacle Foundation in October 2019.