Prosecutor Dan Patterson, Defender Pat Berrigan to be recognized during Annual Meeting

Missouri lawyers Dan Patterson and Pat Berrigan will be honored for their professional work at The Missouri Bar Foundation & Public Service Awards Luncheon, Sept. 18, 2019, during The Missouri Bar’s Annual Meeting in Branson. 

Patterson has been selected as Prosecutor of the Year by the Missouri Association of Prosecuting Attorneys. MAPA presents the award to recognize outstanding achievement in the profession of prosecution. These achievements may be in the areas of decision-making, integrity, courtroom advocacy or policy. Patterson serves as the Prosecuting Attorney for Greene County.  

A retired lieutenant colonel with the Missouri Army National Guard, Patterson has served the citizens of Greene County since 1996. In 2018, Patterson was elected by his MAPA peers to serve as the organization’s president-elect. 

“The critical importance of the rule of law as a foundation of our country drives my passion for the law,” said Patterson. “And our role as ministers of justice responsible for the quality of the administration of justice in our community drives my passion for my work as a prosecuting attorney.” 

Patterson expressed that although he is personally receiving this award, it is a recognition to those who have mentored him and the assistant prosecutors and staff of the Greene County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, noting “the work they do every day on behalf of our citizens.”

Berrigan, a long-time trial attorney in the Missouri State Public Defender System’s Capital Division, will be recognized as the Defender of Distinction. His office is devoted to the defense of indigent persons charged with capital murder. This award is presented annually by the Missouri State Public Defender Commission to a public defender who exemplifies the ideal of public defense.  

Berrigan spent 14 years with the firm of Watson and Dameron in Kansas City. He has tried death penalty and serious felony cases in state and federal courts in Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, Iowa and Tennessee. He is also a past recipient of The Missouri Bar Foundation’s David J. Dixon Appellate Advocacy Award and the Atticus Finch Award from the Missouri Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. In addition, Berrigan is an adjunct teacher of trial advocacy at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law. 

When asked to share his advice to other members to the bar, Berrigan said not to aspire to be recognized.  

“If you strive to be the best lawyer, advocate and counselor for your clients, each one, one at a time, then recognition may come your way, or not. You won't care, because it’s the work, your practice and helping people that will be your reward,” Berrigan said. “That is the heart of a happy lawyer. The awards, praise and plaudits, that's all just mushroom gravy on an already great steak.” 

Click here to learn more about the Awards Luncheon.