Georgetown Law

Before joining the Law Center faculty in 1980, Professor Patterson served as Chair of the D.C. Public Service (Utilities) Commission and was a Commissioner of the D.C. Public Service Commission. While at Georgetown, she taught Conflicts, Contracts, Race and American Law, Commercial Law: Sales Transactions, and Law and Social Change: The Civil Rights Movement.  From 1993-97, she served as Associate Dean for the JD and Graduate Programs at the Law Center. She has been Treasurer of the D.C. Bar and a member of the Secretary of State’s Advisory Committee on Private International Law (the Study Group on the Law Applicable to International Sales), the D.C. Bar Screening Committee, and the Editorial Board of the Washington Lawyer. She was the 2001 recipient of the Law Center’s Frank F. Flegal Teaching Award.  She served twice as Deputy Director and once as Associate Director of the Association of American Law Schools (2005-2007; 2009-2010; and 2016-2018).  Before becoming involved in public service, Professor Patterson practiced privately with the D.C. firm of Hogan and Hartson (now Hogan Lovells) and taught Conflicts at Catholic University. After graduation from law school, she served as a clerk for the Honorable Ruggero J. Aldisert of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Professor Patterson received an Honoray Doctorate from the University of Toulouse1 in Toulouse, France and an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Emmanuel College in Boston, Massachusetts. She is a member of the American Law Institute.