Mr Ritchie is Edinburgh born and bred. He attended George Watson's Boys College (as it was then called), before taking a law degree at Dundee University in 1969. Following his apprenticeship, he was a practising solicitor for 17 years in 3 different firms in Edinburgh dealing with court work, principally in the Court of Session. For the last nine of those years he was a partner in the firm of Thomson and Baxter, in Thistle Street.
Mr Ritchie joined the Professional Practice Department of the Law Society of Scotland in 1990. He became head of that department in 1993, and his title is Director of Professional Practice. In that capacity he is well known to the solicitor profession throughout Scotland, both as a source of advice on specific problems, and also as the co-author of Law, Practice and Conduct for Solicitors.
