D. Patricia Wallace

        Patricia Wallace focuses her practice on assisting outside attorneys litigate effectively and efficiently in federal court and on helping clients maximize the use of technological advances to protect confidential information and reduce business disruption and litigation costs.  She also serves as the Firm’s appellate counsel.  In that role she advises attorneys on preserving error; prepares the record on appeal in compliance with the rules of each court; prepares briefs, whether as appellant or appellee; and presents oral arguments.  She has handled a wide variety of issues and managed litigation from inception, through discovery, and finally to resolution, whether by settlement, summary judgment, trial, or final appeal. 

        Ms. Wallace is admitted to practice in Florida; the Southern, Middle, and Northern Districts of Florida; the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals; and the United States Supreme Court.  In these courts, Ms. Wallace has argued a variety of issues, including jurisdiction, statutory interpretation, and constitutional law.  Ms. Wallace’s background in appeals and constitutional law as well as her academic training in Medieval Studies at Cornell has developed her eye for detail and her ability to distinguish or assimilate cases to the circumstances of each matter. 

        Prior to practicing law, Ms. Wallace was an English Language and Literature Professor at Florida International University, where she taught a wide range of classes including “Bible as Literature,” “Arthurian Literature,” and “Old English Language.”  Following law school at the University of Miami, she clerked for the Honorable Henry Coke Morgan, United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia.  She joined Hunton and Williams LLP at their Miami office, where she prosecuted First Amendment claims and defended clients against appropriation of likeness, defamation, and other privacy torts.  She also assisted in numerous commercial disputes in both federal and state courts and before arbitration panels. 

        Most recently, Ms. Wallace served as appellate counsel with a health care litigation firm.  In addition to handling appeals and arguing constitutional issues in state court, she guided the firm in developing its electronic discovery capabilities and provided extensive briefing in federal court. 
 
Publications

“Stopping at the Gate: Your Court’s Jurisdictional Limitations,” 16 The Record 18 (Winter/Spring 2007).

Co-Author, “Brief Ban of Eva Joly’s Book Betrays Fundamental Principles that Protect Press Freedom,” 2004-1 Juriste International 41, 44-46 (2004).

Co-Author, Media Law Resource Center Survey of Florida Law Regarding Invasion of Privacy & Related Law (2003 & 2004).

Co-Author, “Protecting First Amendment Rights to Obtain & Disclose Medical Information After the Adoption of Regulations Implementing HIPAA,” (Media Law Resource Center, 2003).

Co-Author, “Who’s That Crack-Shot Trouser Thief?” 28 Litigation Magazine No. 4 at 49 (Summer 2002).

Comment, “Grave-Digging: The Misuse of History in Indian Land Claims,” 30 University of Miami Inter-American Law Review 489 (1999).
 
Presentations

“The Evolution of Class Action Litigation” and “Surviving Electronic Discovery,” presented at the AIG Health Care Forum entitled From Provider Disputes to Class Action Lawsuits, New York (April 2007).

Panelist, The Florida Bar Annual Seminar on U.S. Supreme Court First Amendment Decisions, Florida (2003, 2004, & 2005).