Ashley Richards is the Founder, Managing Partner & Lead Investigator at Richards Advocacy. She has been practicing as a litigation lawyer since 2006, and has worked as an external investigator since 2018. Ashley is a passionate legal professional. Ashley has worked at two national, leading firms, Osler LLP and Blakes LLP, and gained extensive experience in class action and commercial litigation. Ashley’s career then transition to commercial, civil and coverage litigation, working at Thomas Gold Pettingill LLP, becoming a partner in 2017.

In 2018, Ashley started Richards Advocacy. Since this time, Ashley has continued to work as a litigator assisting clients with a variety of civil and commercial litigation matters, with a particular expertise on matters involving insurance coverage disputes. Ashley is also regularly retained by institutions responding to sexual assault claims, and provides advice on policies and procedures relating to conduct issues, including sexual and gender-based violence.

Ashley is also a trained and experienced external / workplace investigator. Ashley conducts investigations on issues of harassment, discrimination, civility, sexual and gender-based violence, fraud, and academic / research integrity. Ashley is regularly retained by educational institutions, hospitals, non-profit corporations and companies for assistance with conduct-related matters and investigations. Ashley has extensive experience engaging with complex complaints and is a trained trauma-informed investigator.