Steve Patton is a retired partner in the Litigation Practice Group in the Chicago office of Kirkland & Ellis LLP. Patton has extensive experience trying cases and arguing appeals in federal and state courts throughout the country in a wide variety of commercial disputes. He has also served as an advisor to senior management in a number of “bet the company” exposures and negotiated several multibillion settlements in complex disputes. Patton is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and his varied career as a nationally-renowned litigator, public servant, and teacher and mentor of younger lawyers was recently featured in the Journal of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

During his first, 33-year tenure with the Firm (from 1978 to 2011), Patton was a senior litigation partner and served in a number of leadership positions, including chair of the Firm’s Litigation Management Committee. From 2011 to 2017, Patton served as the City of Chicago’s Corporation Counsel and Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s senior legal advisor. After his return to the Firm in 2017, Patton resumed his litigation practice, with a focus on nationwide, pro bono impact cases. This included Ramirez v. ICE, in which Kirkland represented a nationwide class of immigrant teenagers illegally detained by ICE. After a four-week bench trial, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled in favor of the Plaintiff class on all liability issues. After further proceedings with respect to remedial relief, the Court also granted Plaintiffs’ request for a permanent injunction and final judgment. Patton also served as lead counsel for plaintiffs in Karnoski v. Trump, in which Kirkland represented transgender persons challenging President Trump’s ban on transgender persons openly serving in the military. After several years of litigation, including three appeals to the Ninth Circuit, the case was voluntarily dismissed after Defendants agreed to repeal the Trump ban and reinstitute their prior policy of allowing transgender persons to serve openly.

Patton has been voted by his peers as one of Illinois’ “Top 100 Super Lawyers” and for inclusion in The Best Lawyers of America. He was named one of America’s Leading Lawyers for Business Litigation/General Commercial in Chambers USA, and one of five “highly recommended” Chicago-based litigators in Global Counsel’s Dispute Resolution Handbook. He has been named by Corporate Board Member magazine as one of America’s Best Corporate Lawyers, and featured in The Legal 500 U.S. for his work in complex litigation.