Patrick is a diverse, Chambers-ranked Band 1 litigator and globally recognized practice leader in pre-trial litigation and government investigations. He is ranked by Who’s Who Legal as a global “Thought Leader” and is at the top of the very short list of practitioners who clients seek to lead coordinated efforts in high-stakes MDL, class action, mass-tort, product liability and deceptive practices litigation supported by his  roles in six of the nation’s largest MDLs. Patrick is the co-chair of Shook’s Complex Litigation Strategic Counseling Group and also co-chairs the firm’s Discovery Strategies Practice, ranked a Tier 1 practice by Legal 500.

Patrick represents and advises six of the world’s largest life sciences companies, three of the world’s largest financial services organizations, one of the world’s top-three retailers and one of the world’s largest airlines on litigation and investigative matters.   

Patrick is co-lead coordinating counsel for Unilever in MDL No. 3068 IN RE: Unilever Aerosol Products Marketing, Sales Practices, and Products Liability and aerosol spray cases nationally, representing the company against plaintiffs’ reliance on false and misleading testing claims made by Valisure. Patrick serves on the Defense Steering Committee in the In Re: Zantac (Ranitidine) Products Liability Litigation MDL for GlaxoSmithKline. He is also presently a member of the national leadership team representing Gilead in the TDF Products Liability Litigation and as national coordinating counsel in the nationwide opioid litigation for IQVIA. He has also served as national coordinating discovery counsel in complex litigation, including for Sanofi in the Taxotere MDL and for Bayer in the Essure Products Liability Litigation. In his privacy practice, Patrick has successfully litigated, argued and shut down a class action involving the Stored Communications Act, Electronic Communications Privacy Act, California Invasion of Privacy Act and Right to Financial Privacy Act. 

He has led investigative responses to demands by Department of Justice (DOJ), U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), U.S. Attorney’s Office (USAO) grand jury subpoenas and state attorneys general. Patrick’s court appearances are balanced by his work advising clients on information governance, data privacy and discovery practices to avoid litigation on technology issues altogether. Editor-in-chief of The Electronic Discovery Institute’s Guide to Spoliation Law (5th ed.), Patrick has both successfully defended against spoliation claims and has efficaciously obtained adverse inferences to benefit his clients.

Patrick’s courtroom credibility is built upon his experience as senior counsel in the SEC’s Office of the General Counsel and work as director of electronic discovery and senior litigation counsel at Verizon. He has testified on behalf of both organizations in federal litigation and has testified and commented to the federal Judicial Conference’s Advisory Committee on Civil Rules and Committee on Evidence Rules advocating Federal Rules of Evidence changes, including testimony in which he presented his position on proposed Federal Rule of Evidence 502. The committee included language incorporating his suggestions in its draft to the Judicial Conference.

Patrick’s legal work and testimony is supported by his commitment to educating the bench and bar by volunteering at The Electronic Discovery Institute (EDI), and his educational work for the Government Investigations and Civil Litigation Institute (GICLI). Patrick is a co-founder of both organizations. Along with a diverse group of practitioners and members of the federal judiciary, he also works on planning committees and as faculty for the Federal Judicial Center’s annual electronic discovery training program. He is executive editor of The Federal Judges’ Guide to Discovery (3rd ed.) and editor-in-chief of The General Counsel’s Guide to Government Investigations (3rd ed.). In 2007, Patrick appeared with U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer at Georgetown University Law Center’s H5 Summit on Electronic Discovery. He is also a long-time advisory board chair and regular keynote for ALM’s Legaltech News and is a fellow of the American Bar Foundation.

During his tenure at SEC, Patrick co-chaired the agency’s cross-divisional Electronic Discovery Action Team and co-authored The SEC Electronic Discovery and Litigation Response Manual. He counseled SEC senior leadership and agency staff on best practices and guidance for discovery and litigation strategy and privilege protections, and on strategically significant matters involving forensics, technology and Electronic Communications Privacy Act interpretation for subpoena enforcement. Patrick appeared twice as SEC’s 30(b)(6) deponent to defend the agency’s discovery practices, with favorable outcomes to the agency. He designed and implemented SEC’s preservation process as well as a federal government-wide educational program that included the participation of federal judiciary.

Before serving at SEC, Patrick was an experienced in-house counsel leading Verizon’s electronic discovery practice. Patrick was one of the nation’s first in-house attorneys charged to create and deploy defensible policies, guidelines and procedures for litigation response. While at Verizon, Patrick testified as the company’s Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 30(b)(6) witness, defending the same policies and guidelines that he helped design and implement. In 2006, he was nominated for the Verizon Excellence Award after playing a key role in the successful completion of Verizon’s response to the DOJ’s Second Request for documents in its acquisition of MCI. As a result of his work, Inside Counsel magazine named Verizon’s eDiscovery Team as one of the ten most innovative legal groups of 2007, the group’s second year winning the title. 

Outside of his regular practice, Patrick lectures regularly at educational events and legal conferences internationally. He has appeared on National Public Radio’s Morning Edition and has been interviewed by The Economist.


Representative and Advisory Matters

Co-Author of the first edition of The United States Securities and Exchange Commission Litigation Response and Electronic Discovery Manual.

Advised client on preparing declarations related to the cost of discovery for a matter before to the Supreme Court of the United States.

First chair counsel in favorable published opinions related to the Right to Financial Privacy Act of 1978 (RFPA) in federal district court.

Advised on an internal forensic investigation and direct examination of witnesses for an employee misconduct matter with high media attention.

Advised clients on the deployment of enterprise-wide forensic collection technology.

Led internal investigation and developed discovery protocols for a Federal Court of Claims matter also testified as 30(b)(6) witness with favorable results for client.

Advised client in the negotiation and management of discovery protocols in a multimillion dollar commercial collection litigation.

Advised clients and later authored discovery guidelines for two multinational organizations.

Appeared as client electronic discovery representative in a multi-party antitrust matter.

Advised on and developed a data remediation and information governance program for a multinational Fortune 500 organization.

Advised client and investigated a human resource data breach.

Advised client on and oversaw an internal investigation related to the intellectual property theft of a departing senior executive.

Negotiated data production protocols with the Department of Justice for a pre-merger investigation.

Negotiated for the use of advanced analytics in response to an Attorney General investigation.

Advised clients on the retention of exotic data sources and defended auto-destruction procedures.

Negotiated software service agreements for enterprise client.

Advised client in the collection of data relevant to security investigations and internal audits.

Advised on privilege waiver issues related to inadvertent production to a regulatory agency.

Advised on information governance and retention issues related to an insider trading matter.

Championed highly adversarial discovery – resulting testimony produced a favorable outcome.

Advised client and expert witness related to an investigation for insider trading.

Advised client and conducted an internal investigation related to organizational knowledge of rate manipulation.

Advised client on the development of a custom regulatory portal to monitor media during negotiations and litigation.

Defended client’s discovery practice in a consumer class action related to auto-renewal contracts.

Advised client regarding risk related to third party requests for clawed back privileged materials.

Led investigation and later negotiation with regulatory agency related to employee misconduct in hiring practices.

Led investigation related to employee misconduct working with computer forensics experts to uncover falsified evidence.

Advised on multiple congressional requests.

Media

As Clients Seek Out ‘Dream Team’ From Multiple Law Firms, Shook Offers Strategy Counseling, ALM (January 26, 2024).

Victoria Hudgins, Plaintiffs Social Media ESI Is Increasingly Discoverable. Will It Chill Meritless Filings? Legaltech News (April 9, 2021).

Erin E. Harrison, The Challenges of E-Discovery and International Privacy Laws, Legaltech News (September 29, 2015). 

Drew Lewis, Q & A with eDiscovery Expert Patrick Oot, Recommind's Mind Over Matters (June 3, 2014). 

Mark Michels, After considering public input, significant changes are proposed to Federal Rules of Civil Procedure amendments, Law Technology News (April 3, 2014).

Marc Jenkins, Vendor Voice: From Socrates to Augmented Intelligence, Law Technology News (February 21, 2014).

Monica Bay, EDI-Oracle Study: Humans Essential in E-Discovery, Law Technology News (February 14, 2014).

Monica Bay, 12 on 12: Favorite Moments at LegalTech New York, Law Technology News (February 12, 2014).

Monica Bay, LegalTech New York Primer: Advice From Veterans, Law Technology News (January 29, 2014).

Monica Bay, 2014: Big Data, Cyber Liability, and Other Things That Go Bump, Law Technology News (January 2, 2014).

Lisa Holton, The Innovators: Patrick Oot, Law Technology News (August 27, 2013).

Lisa Holton, A Front-Row Seat: Five pioneer judges who shaped the evolution of e-discovery, Law Technology News (December 30, 2013).

Monica Bay, Jurists Spill the Beans on E-Discovery, Law Technology News (December 1, 2013).

Monica Bay, EDI-Oracle Study: Humans Are Still Essential in E-Discovery, Law Technology News (November 20, 2013).

Monica Bay, Giant Steps: Can a Corporate Veteran Help the SEC Learn New E-Discovery Moves?, Law Technology News (January 31, 2011).

Karabin, Sherry, Discovery Sanctions Beyond Money, Corporate Counsel (September 25, 2008).

Kluth, Andreas, The big data dump, The Economist (August 28, 2008).

Monica Bay, Peaks and Valleys of PowerPoint Presentation, Law Technology News (July 8, 2008).

Dale Buss, Keeping Your Firm's E-Discovery In-House, Corporate Counsel (April 15, 2008).

Dale Buss, Living in Two Dimensions: Managing EDD In-House, Corporate Counsel (April 14, 2008).

Judi Hasson, Digital law and order, CIO Magazine (February 2008).

Beth Bar, Companies Struggle With E-Discovery Rules, New York Law Journal (January 7, 2008).

Keith Ecker, New XML standard promises to smooth out the ediscovery process, InsideCounsel (January 2008).

Keith Ecker, Easy Migration, InsideCounsel (January 2008).

Monica Bay, Defuse Fear and Disarm EDD Vendors Pt. II, Law Technology News (October 10, 2007).

Keith Ecker, Manual Labor, Inside Counsel Magazine (September 1, 2007).

Alan Cohen, The Battle of the Vendors, Law Firm Inc. (April 2007).

Monica Bay, Up Front: EDD Online,Law Technology News (April 2007).

Ari Shapiro, New Rules on Retaining Digital Business Documents, National Public Radio (December 1, 2006).

David F. Carr, Primer: E-Discovery, Baseline Magazine (October 19, 2006).

Keith Ecker, Discovering Solutions, Inside Counsel Magazine (September 1, 2006).

Scott M. Gawlicki, GCs Find New Ways To Cut E-Discovery Costs, Inside Counsel Magazine (December 1, 2005).

Publications

New AI for Litigators, Complex Discovery, February 11, 2024. 

Adoption By the Numbers: Two Years Later, How Should the Florida Courts Navigate the “Not-So-New” Florida Summary Judgment Rule?, The Florida Bar Journal, September 2023 (with Anitra Raiford Clement and Ashley B. Hayes).

To MDL, or Not? Early Complex Litigation Decisions in the United StatesChambers and Partners, May 15, 2023. 

California Bill on Protective Orders Threatens Privacy Norms, Law360, June 6, 2022. 

5 Tips for Protecting Legal Privilege During Global Litigation, ACC Docket, June 2020 (with Jeremy Wikler).

A Litigator's Pragmatic Approach to Avoiding Discovery Disasters (with Adam Shoshtari), Litigation, Vol. 45, No. 2, Winter 2019.

Third-Party Subpoenas: Reversing a Cost Center in the Law Department (with Elizabeth Atlee, Farrah Pepper and Mike Zito), ACC Docket, January/February 2017.

Data Privacy Laws and Blocking Statutes: Practical Strategies for Counsel, Law Journal Newsletters: Cybersecurity Law & Strategy (December 2016).

Skip the Lip Services: Tips for Solid Rules-Based Advocacy, Legaltech News (November 2016).

Lawyers Guide to a Lean Justice System and Proportional Discovery, New York Law Journal (January 2016).

Secondary Materials Make a Greater Impact than Most May Expect, Legaltech News (October 2015).

The Sedona Conference® Commentary on Protection of Privileged ESI, (forthcoming); co-senior editor.

Defining Conduct, Law Technology News (October 2015).

Time to Reconsider Enterprise Email Strategy, InformationWeek Government Reports (October 2014).

White House Sharpens Focus on the Global Anti-Corruption Agenda, Inside Counsel (October 2014).

Overcoming the Cross-Border FCPA Foreign Language Barrier, VIA White Paper (September 2014).

Will Microsoft Change How Firms Collaborate With Clients?, Law Technology News (Online) (September 3, 2014).

E-Discovery: Even IRS Computers Crash, Law Technology News (Online) (June 29, 2014).

Microsoft Shows Language Translation and E-Discovery Tools at LegalTech, Law Technology News (Online) (June 26, 2014).

Roundtable Tackles Discovery Issues in Singapore and the US: The Singapore judiciary has kept an eye on proportionality and costs of discovery, Law Technology News (Online) (May 21, 2014).

Homebodies: Conference attendees say they prefer to keep e-discovery in-house, Corporate Counsel (November 1, 2013).

By the Numbers: 50 law department peers compare notes on e-discovery, Law Technology News (October 1, 2013).

Judge John Facciola Steals the Show at Georgetown Law, Law Technology News (June 27, 2013).

Rules Road Map, Law Technology News (January 2012).

Sham Exam: Do your homework before you pay for certification, Law Technology News (August 2011).

The Sedona Conference® Cooperation Guidance for Litigators & In-House Counsel (March 2011); contributing editor.

Protecting Privilege with FRE 502, Real Discovery (Winter 2010).

Safe Sky, Law Technology News (September 2010).

Mandating Reasonableness in a Reasonable Inquiry, University of Denver Law Review (Spring 2010).

Categorization in Legal Electronic Discovery: Computer Classification vs. Manual Review, Journal of the American Society of Information Science and Technology (January 2010).

The Protective Order Toolkit: Protecting Privilege with Federal Rule of Evidence 502, The Sedona Conference Journal (Fall 2009).

Hard Choices, Law Technology News (October 2008).

How to Win Friends or at Least Influence Judges in the Rule 26(f) Meet & Confer Process: A Collaborative Approach to ESI Search & Information Retrieval Methods, The Sedona Conference (Fall 2008).

Presentations

Presenter, Legalweek Live with Patrick Oot, Legal Speak, Legalweek 2024, February 9, 2024.

Co-Presenter, Legalweek Ethics Plenary: The Judicial Lightning Round, Legalweek, January 31, 2024.

Co-Presenter, Addressing the Role of Flawed Science in Driving Mass Litigation in the Food, Cosmetic and Supplements Industries, American Conference Institute's Forum on Defending FDA-Regulated Consumer Products Class Actions, October 16, 2023.

Moderator, Legalweek Judges’ Debate Goes Primetime, Legalweek, March 22, 2023. 

Co-Presenter, ESG: Cultural Investigation, Update of the Law CLE webinar, June 2, 2022.  

Moderator, Keynote: The Annual Judges Panel: Embracing Technology ... Going Virtual and Back Again?, Legalweek, July 14, 2021.

Moderator, U.S. Attorney Panel - Enforcement Trends in the Current Administration, 5th Annual Meeting of The Government Investigations and Civil Litigation Institute, Lake Tahoe, Nevada, October 14, 2019.

Presenter, What Would You Do? ESI Hypotheticals and Their Creative Solutions, Update of the Law CLE, Kansas City, Missouri, June 13, 2019 (with Florence Yee).

Presenter, Leveling the Playing Field in Asymmetric Litigation: Extracting Electronically Stored Information from Requesting Parties and Associated Ethical Obligations, Webinar, National Capital Region and Colorado Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel, June 11, 2019 (with Michael Zito).

Presenter, Beyond the Free Lunch: How Your Small Law Department Can Build Big Relationships with Outside Counsel, Association of Corporate Counsel Annual Meeting, Austin, Texas, October 24, 2018.

Presenter, You Can’t Always Want What You Get: But Does 26(b)(1) Get You What You Need?, Electronic Discovery Institute, 2nd Annual Spring Meeting, Plano, TX (April 2018).

Presenter, A New Paradigm: The Government Investigation Reference Model, 3rd Annual Government Investigations and Civil Litigation Institute (October 10, 2017).

Moderator, Forensics 2.0, Legaltech West, San Francisco, CA (June 2017).

Moderator, Annual Judges’ Debate, The 5th Annual EDI Summit (October 2015).

Moderator, The 50 States: Spoliation Without the FRCP, The 5th Annual EDI Summit (October 2015).

Moderator, 2015 RSA Conference, San Francisco, CA (April 2015).

Panelist, Washington Metropolitan Area Corporate Counsel Association Litigation Forum, Washington, D.C. (December 2014).

Moderator, Legal Tech Trade Show West, Los Angeles (June 2010).

Attendee, United States Judicial Conference Federal Rulemaking Committee Conference on the Civil Rules (May 2010).

Guest Lecturer, Syracuse University College of Law, New York, NY (March 2010).

Co-Chairperson, Counsel of Litigation Management Annual Meeting (March 2010).

Faculty/Speaker, The Sedona Conference Institute: 3rd Annual Getting Ahead of the Curve, Philadelphia, PA (March 2010).

Moderator, Legal Tech Trade Show New York, NY (February 2010).

Faculty/Speaker, ABA Corporate Counsel Annual Conference, Palm Springs, CA (February 2010).

Faculty/Speaker, Campbell Law School Symposium , Raleigh, NC (January 2010).

Faculty/Speaker, Thomson-Reuters EDRR Event (December 2009).

Faculty/Speaker, The Georgetown University Law Center CLE Program: Advance eDiscovery Institute (November 2009).

Faculty/Speaker, Capital One Symposium on Search and Retrieval, McLean, VA (November 2009).

Keynote Speaker, Corporate Counsel Exchange, Austin, TX (October 2009).

Keynote Speaker, Electronic Discovery Australia, Sydney, AU (October 2009).

Faculty/Speaker, Department of Energy Contractor Attorneys Association Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C. (October 2009).

Faculty/Speaker 6th Annual FDCC Corporate Counsel Symposium, Dallas, TX (October 2009).

Keynote Speaker, IQPC eDiscovery Symposium, Brussels, Belgium (September 2009).

Faculty/Speaker, ILTA Annual Conference, Washington, DC (August 2009).

Faculty/Speaker Virginia Federal Bar Association, Arlington, VA (July 2009).

Moderator, Legal Tech Trade Show West, Los Angeles (June 2009).

Faculty/Speaker, Inside Counsel Magazine Superconference, Chicago, IL (May 2009).

Faculty/Speaker, Defense Research Institute , New York, NY (May 2009).

Faculty/Speaker, CEIC Conference , Orlando, FL (May 2009).

Faculty/Award Winner, Computer Enterprise Investigation Conference, Las Vegas (May 2009).

Faculty/Speaker, The Sedona Conference on Complex Litigation, Sedona, AZ (April 2009).

Faculty/Speaker, The Sedona Conference RFP+ Program, Sedona, AZ (April 2009).

Keynote Speaker, 5th IQPC eDiscovery Symposium, San Francisco, CA (April 2009).

Faculty/Speaker, Littler Mendelson Conference on Employment Litigation , Phoenix, AZ (April 2009).

Faculty/Speaker, The Sedona Conference Institute: 3rd Annual Getting Ahead of the Curve, Philadelphia, PA (March 2009).

Keynote Moderator, Legal Tech Trade Show New York, New York, NY (February 2009).

Faculty/Speaker, CA World, Las Vegas, NV (November 2008).

Faculty/Speaker, The Georgetown University Law Center CLE Program: Advance eDiscovery Institute (November 2008).

Faculty/Speaker, Electronic Evidence and eDiscovery Forum, London, UK (October 2008).

Faculty/Speaker, The Masters Conference, Washington, DC (October 2008).

Faculty/ Speaker, Interact 2008, Marina del Rey, CA (September 2008).

Keynote Speaker, Marcus Evans Chief Litigation Officer Summit, Palm Springs, CA (September 2008).

Faculty/Speaker, ILTA Annual Conference, Dallas, TX (August 2008).

Faculty/Speaker, David v. Goliath, BNA Webcast (June 2008).

Moderator, Legal Tech Trade Show, West, Los Angeles, CA (June 2008).

Faculty/Speaker, Inside Counsel Magazine Superconference, Chicago, IL (May 2008).

Faculty/Speaker, Information Retention & eDisclosure, London, UK (May 2008).

Faculty/Speaker, Texas Bar Course on Electronic Discovery and Digital Evidence (April 2008).

Faculty/Speaker, ILTA Law Dept Symposium, New York, NY (April 2008).

Faculty/Speaker, Law.com Webinar on Controlling Costs (April 2008).

Faculty/Speaker, The Sedona Conference Institute: 2nd Annual Getting Ahead of the Curve, Memphis, TN (March 2008).

Moderator, Legal Tech Trade Show, New York, New York (February 2008).

Faculty/Speaker, Ziff Davis Enterprise Virtual Trade Show (February 2008).

Faculty/Speaker, eDiscovery and Document Management Strategies, London, UK (January 2008).

Moderator, Legal Tech Trade Show, New York, NY (January 2008).

Faculty/Speaker, Georgetown University Law Center CLE Program: Advance eDiscovery Institute (November 2007).

Keynote Speaker, 4th IQPC eDiscovery Symposium, Jersey City, NJ (October 2007).

Keynote Speaker, Rediscovering eDiscovery, New York, NY (September 2007).

Faculty/Speaker, The 19th Annual Corporate Counsel Magazine General Counsel Conference, New York, NY (June 2007).

Faculty/Speaker, eDiscovery: Unraveling Complexities With the Latest Practical and Technical Solutions, Toronto, ON (June 2007).

Keynote Speaker, Electronic Evidence and eDiscovery Forum, London, UK (June 2007).

Faculty/Speaker, Inside Counsel Magazine Superconference, Chicago, IL (May 2007).

Faculty/Speaker, IP Section of the State Bar of California Presents IP Issues for In-House Counsel, Los Angeles, CA (May 2007).

Faculty/Speaker, The Sedona Conference Institute: 1st Annual Getting Ahead of the Curve, Palm Springs, CA (March 2007).

Faculty/Speaker, Young Lawyers Bar Association: Leg@l.IT Conference, Montréal, Canada (April 2007).

Faculty/Speaker, The University of Alabama School of Law 44th Southeastern Corporate Law Institute, Point Clear, AL (April 2007).

Co-chair, The Sedona Conference Institute: Getting Ahead of the eDiscovery Curve, Memphis, TN (March 2007).

Keynote Speaker, 3rd IQPC eDiscovery Symposium, Berkley, CA (March 2007).

Keynote Speaker, Modern Challenges in Managing ESI, The Law Society, London, UK (March 2007).

Faculty/Speaker, Georgetown Law Summit Featuring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, Washington, D.C. (March 2007).

Testifying Expert, U.S. Judicial Conference Federal Rule Committee: Federal Rule of Evidence 502 Hearings (January 2007).

Moderator, Legal Tech Trade Show, New York, New York (January 2007).

Faculty, T3 Trial Tactics, New York, New York (January 2007).

Faculty/Speaker, Association of Corporate Counsel Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA (November 2006).

Co-chair, American Conference Institute: Document Management & E-Discovery Conference, New York, NY (November 2006).

Faculty/Speaker, The Georgetown University Law Center CLE Program: Advance E-Discovery Institute (November 2006).

Faculty/Speaker, The Economist 4th General Counsel Roundtable, New York, NY (November 2006).

Faculty/Speaker, Real World Solutions & Practical Strategies in a Complex and Challenging Environment (September 2006).

Speaker, 29th Annual Education Conference of the International Legal Technology Association, Orlando, FL (August 2006).

Co-chair, Martindale-Hubbell General Counsel Forum: Electronic Discovery, San Francisco, CA (July 2006).

Faculty/Speaker, The Legal and Strategic Guide to E-Discovery, New York, NY (June 2006).

Faculty/Speaker, Association of Corporate Counsel: Corporate University, Baltimore, MD (May 2006).

Co-chair, Martindale-Hubbell General Counsel Forum: Electronic Discovery, Chicago, IL (May 2006).

Speaker, Manufacturers Alliance/MAPI Annual Meeting, Cleveland, Ohio (March 2006).

Faculty/Speaker, Legal Tech Trade Show, New York, New York (January 2006).