Pat Conroy was admitted to practise as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland in 1965. Soon after, Pat and her husband moved to Mount Isa where they commenced their own private practice. Throughout each of her four pregnancies, Pat continued working, using her share of partnership profits to pay for childcare. From the beginning, Pat found attendance at legal conferences to be a means of preventing professional isolation but her interests outside the law have also been considerable. She served for a brief period on the Mount Isa City Council and was instrumental in establishing the first Aboriginal Legal Aid Office in Mount Isa. Pat was also the Founding President of the Mount Isa Welfare Council. After moving to Gympie, Pat was appointed Vice-President of the Women’s Refuge and was the Founding President of the Detached Youth Organisation. Pat then moved to Brisbane where she practised full-time for eleven years. In 1996, Pat was appointed as a Director of SEQEB and elected to the Council of the Queensland Law Society.