Patrick helps businesses avoid, manage and resolve legal disputes, with a particular emphasis on labor and employment issues. Patrick has represented management clients throughout the country in connection with traditional labor matters including union organizing campaigns, collective bargaining negotiations, unfair labor practice charges and grievance arbitrations. Patrick regularly drafts and reviews employment agreements and various employment policies and manuals, and provides daily support to human resources professionals. He has extensive experience counseling clients regarding compliance with, and litigating disputes involving, federal and state labor and employment laws, including discrimination and civil rights laws, wage and hour laws, the Family and Medical Leave Act and disability laws. Patrick also has litigated numerous restrictive covenant and trade secret disputes involving clients’ former employees and competitors.
Patrick also is a member of our Commercial Litigation group. He has handled a wide variety of complex commercial litigation matters involving antitrust laws, RICO, defense of corporate officers and directors, derivative claims, and shareholder, real estate, franchise, construction and securities disputes. Patrick has successfully represented clients at all stages of such matters, including through jury trials and appeals. He routinely appears before state and federal courts, administrative agencies and arbitrators throughout the United States.
Patrick has worked with clients in various industries in his decades of practice. In particular, Patrick has represented clients in the transportation, food processing and energy industries (including coal, steel and electric), and notable public sector clients such as the Philadelphia Parking Authority, the Pennsylvania Convention Center and the Board of Directors of City Trusts for the City of Philadelphia.
Through his representation of the Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association and the Pennsylvania Horsemen’s Benevolent Protective Association, which represent, respectively, the owners, trainers and jockeys at Parx Racing in Bensalem, and Penn National in Harrisburg, Patrick has developed a broad experience dealing with matters of equine law and gaming. In particular, Patrick has worked closely with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture and Racing Commission on matters relating to the regulation of the use of medications in race horses.
Representative Experience
Labor and Employment:
- Counseling clients through union organization petitions, including administrative proceedings to narrow the scope of potential bargaining units, and management of successful employer campaigns and elections
- Negotiating innovative collective bargaining agreements to implement fundamental structural changes in light of the rapidly changing nature of businesses
- Defending employers from unfair labor practice charges
- Counseling clients involved in work-stoppages, including with respect to ensuring access and continued operations through labor injunctions and use of replacement workers
- Counseling clients in connection with wage and hour and other audits by federal and state labor departments
- Prosecuting and defending claims based on the conduct of former employees, with respect to both protection of trade secrets and enforcement of restrictive covenants
- Defending employers in action for assessments brought by multi-employer health and welfare funds
- Negotiating employment agreements
- Counseling employers through the process of disciplining and terminating employees, including negotiation of severance agreements and defense of grievances through arbitration process
- Counseling employers in connection with internal investigations of harassment and other complaints
- Defending employers against claims made by current and former employees under wage and hour laws, disability and family leave laws, etc.
- Defending employers from various civil rights and discrimination claims made by former and current employees, including management of continuing employment relationships to avoid retaliation claims
Litigation:
- Federal jury trial resulting in defense verdict on a national origin discrimination claim against a public sector employer
- Federal jury trial resulting in verdict in favor of client in antitrust price-discrimination claim
- Pretrial dismissal of claims of unfair competition and contract interference made against steel processor by competitor
- Pretrial dismissal of numerous civil rights and discrimination claims
- Successful management and resolution of litigation relating to the development of the new Philadelphia Family Court facility
- Successful management and resolution of claims of constitutional violations by former executive of public sector employer in case involving defamation claims against multiple media defendants
- Successful management of franchise disputes and litigation involving large franchisee of nationwide financial services franchisor
Professional and Community Involvement
- In addition to his practice, Patrick serves as a member of the firm’s Information Systems Committee.
- Patrick has been active in youth organizations in Drexel Hill, including service as a Director and Coach for St. Andrew the Apostle CYO, Drexel Hill Little League and UDHL Babe Ruth Baseball. Patrick is also active in development activities for the Georgetown University through service in Georgetown’s Alumni Ambassador Program.
Articles and Presentations
- “Zero Tolerance and the Natural Horse: The Intersection of Advanced Science and Pennsylvania’s Ban on ‘Foreign Substances’ in Race Horses,” Philadelphia Legal Intelligencer, March 8, 2011
- “Lobeline: A Cautionary Tale,” Pennsylvania Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association Newsletter, Vol. 1, 2010