My as yet unwritten memoir is going to be called “Confessions of a Trial Lawyer.” I don’t know if they will be more interesting than St. Augustine’s, but they will be less mysterious than St. Patrick’s. Until then, I briefly note a few relevant background facts.
Early leadership:
Twice elected President of the Student Senate in college, I learned how to debate opponents, choose winning political issues, and efficiently manage an organization of independent-minded representatives. (Today I debate opponents in court in every case, select themes to appeal to juries, and despise meetings that drag on and accomplish nothing.)
Straight commission salesman:
After graduation, I became a straight commission salesman to earn the money for law school. We were trained in the salesmanship principles of Xerox Corporation: how to accent benefits, use directive and non-directive questions, and rebut easy and difficult objections. (Today I use the same questioning techniques in depositions and the same structure for answering objections during legal arguments. My passion for closing sales has been replaced by my desire to win business lawsuits.)
Law Review:
Selected as an Editor of the Law Review in Law School, I published this Note, Ex Parte Contacts in Informal Rulemaking Proceedings: Home Box Office v. FCC, 27 DePaul Law Review 489 (1978), which the bar association administrative law committee said was “unusually perceptive.” (The written word is the lawyer’s stock in trade: court papers have to be well-researched, concise, and lucid to persuade.)
An insider’s view:
The late Justice William G. Clark of the Illinois Supreme Court designated me as one of his two Law Clerks upon graduation. While researching and writing memorandums for the court, I received a priceless insider’s education in the working of our system of justice from a man who was uniquely qualified to teach it. (Such was his influence that 37 years later I still recall many of his stories and observations verbatim.)
Big firm experience:
Putting this education into practice at a large Chicago law firm, I prepared and tried lawsuits and appeals, winning several that became famous. After conducting an estimated 100 trials, evidentiary hearings, and arbitrations, representing everyone from the Boy Scouts to a murderer, I have strong opinions about how to win business lawsuits. I shared some of them in a book— Handling The Business Emergency: Temporary Restraining Orders and Preliminary Injunctions– published by the American Bar Association in 2009—and others in speeches and articles (listed below). My partners forbid me from revealing all of our secrets, but I would be happy to put our principles to work for you on any assignment within our competence.
A new approach:
When I started my own firm and then hired other lawyers to help me, I wanted to be more than a collection of individuals. We have different personalities and backgrounds, but a unified point of view, high standards, and an aggressive and creative approach to solving client problems.
“What’s he really like?”
President Kennedy once told a friend that the journalist’s job was to reveal what someone was really like. Biographical sketches try to do that, and often end up as a compendium of personal matters: childhood achievements (Eagle Scout), favorite books and movies (too many to list), place of worship (Fourth Presbyterian Church), avocations (hiking, camping, rafting), or even accomplishments of children (my son is a Major in the United States Army).
More relevant might be the results of the DiSC personality test that our group of CEO’s took at a Vistage meeting. I tested as a D and C. D’s tendencies include “getting immediate results,” “causing action,” “accepting challenges,” “managing trouble,” and “solving problems.” C’s tendencies include “concentrating on key details,” “thinking analytically,” “checking for accuracy,” “analyzing performance critically,” and “using a systematic approach.”
New Author
After my first book (for lawyers) was published, I wondered whether I could write a book for the general public. This new project took over ten years, but resulted in the publication of American Populist: Huey Long of Louisiana (LSU Press 2025). It won the Jules and Frances Landry Prize for best book and won the same honor from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. Reviewers have been kind:
“American Populist, thick and exhaustively researched, adds to a 75-year pile-up of biographies, movies, novels and documentaries. . . . it offers a robust argument both for Long’s impact on prewar political debate and the relevance of left-wing populism.”
Jefferson Cowie, in the London Review of Books, March 19, 2026
“{U]pdates [T. Harry] Williams in a compelling way with new material. . . . Patterson credits Long with more substance than previous accounts do while bringing his faults into full view.”
William Anthony Hay, in New Criterion, February 2026
“American Populist: Huey Long of Louisiana, is an original, well-written, and ambitious examination of the ‘Kingfish’s legacy. . . . Patterson shines when he disentangles much of Long’s contentious relationship and rivalry with Roosevelt.”
Michael Taube, in Washington Examiner, February 2025.
“Very well-written book . . . . much like Eric Larsen’s book, Devil in the White City.”
Sarah Arntz, Back in the Day Podcast, September 7, 2025
