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BACKGROUND:
Patrick was born July 22, 1948, in Jacksonville, Florida. He grew up in Gainesville and Orlando, Florida, graduating from Winter Garden Lakeview High School in 1966. He attended Furman University on a football scholarship where he was named to all conference and all state teams as a defensive end.
After graduation in 1970, Patrick volunteered for military service and was assigned to the Army Security Agency, in which he received training in traffic analysis and crypto-analysis. He was sent to Vietnam where he was assigned to the 8th Radio Research Field Station at Phu Bai. After Vietnam, Patrick was stationed at Fort Hood, Texas, where he was selected for special assignment as an ombudsman at the post stockade. In this position he worked effectively with command, guards, prosecutors, defense counsel, psychologists, as well as the confinees and their families.
Patrick attended the University of Florida Law School from 1973 – 1975, where he was as an Executive Editor of the Law Review. After graduation, Patrick served as Executive Assistant to the Honorable Ben F. Overton, Chief Justice to the Supreme Court of Florida. In 1977, he entered private practice as an associate with a major Atlanta law firm, where he learned the fundamentals of commercial real estate and civil litigation. Patrick returned to Tallahassee in 1979 to work with the Florida Public Service Commission in the initial legislative sunset review of its expansive regulatory authority over public utilities.
In 1980 Patrick was named Deputy General Counsel to the Public Service Commission, in which role he had managerial responsibility for staff attorneys in rate cases and other proceedings. He was later assigned oversight responsibility for Commission appeals and rule development, and for providing legal counsel to the Commission. While at the Commission, Patrick also played a key role in the Commission’s decisions in opening intrastate communications to competition, as well as representing the Commission in the AT&T Divestiture Proceedings in 1982.
In 1984 Patrick re-entered private practice where he has focused on administrative and regulatory law. Before the Florida Public Service Commission he has represented just about every type of stakeholder in every kind of Commission proceeding and in Florida courts. He also has represented clients in the Florida courts and before almost every other state public utility commission, as well as the FCC and other federal agencies. Patrick’s current practice of law involves the representation of clients before state regulatory agencies, in Florida courts and before the Florida Legislature.
In 2008 Patrick became Executive Director of Neighborhood Health Services, Inc. (NHS), a charity that provides low cost primary health care services to the uninsured and underserved community. NHS was going through a difficult time when the NHS Board asked him to take the helm as Executive Director. He served in that position for two years, during which time NHS experienced a remarkable turnaround.
Throughout his career, Patrick represented clients in complex multiparty proceedings where successful results could not be achieved simply by "besting" the other side. Success has required not only professional seasoning and perceptive insight, but also the practical ingenuity to fashion workable solutions in challenging environments. He is proud of his reputation as the source to call upon when the regulatory problems are knotty and innovative solutions are needed.
EDUCATION:
- University School of Florida, JD Law, (1975)
- Executive Editor, University of Florida Law Review (1974-75)
- Furman University, B.A. (1970)
PROFESSIONAL:
- AV Rated by Martindale-Hubbell
- Founding Partner, Wiggins & Villacorta, P.A., (1984-2000)
- Chair, Quality of Life & Career Committee, Florida Bar (2002-2004)
- Co-Author, Chapter 10, The Florida Public Service Commission, Florida
- Administrative Practice (8th Ed. 2004), The Florida Bar
- Executive Assistant to Hon. Benjamin F. Overton, Chief Justice, Supreme Court of Florida, (1976-77)
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