Sharon Finegan Patterson has 31 years of
experience as a trial court and appellate court litigator in Illinois. She has
also handled complex litigation in other states, including Massachusetts,
Washington, Texas, Rhode Island, to name just a few. Sharon also has extensive
experience in mediations and is highly skilled at resolving disputes through the
alternative dispute resolution process.
Sharon received her undergraduate
degree, Bachelor of Science in Education, Magna Cum Laude, from Northern
Illinois University in 1975. After she taught junior high school mathematics,
she obtained her Juris Doctor in Law degree in 1980 from Loyola
University Chicago School of Law. She published a law journal article and was
elected to the post of editor of the law journal. She was also awarded the
American Jurisprudence Award for top performance in criminal procedure.
After
graduating from law school in 1980, Sharon was hired by Honorable Justice Daniel
J. McNamara in the First District Illinois Appellate Court to serve as a
judicial law clerk for two years. She heard hundreds of appellate arguments,
researched the law on hundreds of appellate court briefs, and drafted legal
opinions for Justice McNamara’s review.
In 1982,
Sharon joined the highly respected, large, Chicago law firm of Lord, Bissell &
Brook as an associate attorney where she handled insurance coverage cases,
products liability cases, personal injury cases, commercial litigation, toxic
tort drug litigation, and environmental contamination cases and appeals.
In 1995,
Sharon opened her own law practice. She currently practices in Sharon Finegan
Patterson, PC. where she primarily handles employment matters (including the
full range of employment disputes such as discrimination, breach of contract,
wage and/or commission claims, employment agreements, severance agreements,
non-compete agreements) as well as complex medical negligence cases and other
personal injury claims on behalf of individuals. Sharon has been asked to train
companies on employment discrimination laws and to lecture on the subject of
employment discrimination law. Sharon regularly serves as “judge” for mock trial
and mock mediation competitions for law schools around the nation with the hope
of training our new lawyers to do the best job possible. Sharon was also invited
to participate in the meeting of the Illinois Supreme Court’s Special Committee
on Professionalism on Civility, Ethics and Training for Lawyers.
Sharon ran for
the office of Cook County circuit court judge in the primary election in
February 2010 and came in second place. In connection with her candidacy, Sharon
was evaluated by numerous attorney bar associations who have rated her
favorably. Please see the Ratings by Peers page on this website for more
details.
