Patrick O'Brien is an American lawyer whose practice has focused on personal injury, workers' compensation, and Federal Employers' Liability Act (FELA) litigation. Born in Saint Louis, Missouri, he was admitted to the Missouri Bar in 1979 and later to the bars of Illinois and Minnesota. He served as a partner at Pratt & Callis, Professional Corporation, in East Alton, Illinois.
Background
Patrick O'Brien was born on April 15, 1954, in Saint Louis, Missouri. The city sits on the Mississippi River opposite the Illinois shore, placing it at the meeting point of the two states in which he later practiced law.
Saint Louis was a long-established Midwestern commercial and industrial city during his childhood and youth, and its river location shaped its growth as a center of trade and transportation. The region's railroads later became the setting for much of the injury litigation that defined his professional focus.
Education
Patrick O'Brien received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Missouri in 1976. Founded in 1839, the University of Missouri was the first public university established west of the Mississippi River, and its Columbia campus became its principal campus for undergraduate study.
He then studied at Saint Louis University School of Law, where he earned the Juris Doctor in 1979. Saint Louis University, a Jesuit institution founded in 1818, had a law school that joined the Association of American Law Schools in 1924, placing it among the established American law schools of the period.
His legal education is also associated with Oklahoma City University, whose law school joined the Association of American Law Schools in 2003, after the period of his studies.
Career
O'Brien was admitted to the Missouri Bar in 1979, to the Illinois bar in 1980, and to the Minnesota bar in 1986. Admission to a state bar grants the authority to practice law in that jurisdiction, so these admissions extended his practice from Missouri into Illinois and Minnesota.
He worked as a partner of Pratt & Callis, Professional Corporation, based in East Alton, Illinois, a city in Madison County across the Mississippi River from St. Louis. A professional corporation allows licensed practitioners such as lawyers to organize their practice as an incorporated firm while each remains personally responsible for his or her own professional work.
He later became associated with the Law Offices of Patrick S. O'Brien, LLC, in Saint Louis, Missouri, where his practice concentrated on personal injury and workers' compensation claims. The Federal Employers' Liability Act, enacted in 1908, allows railroad employees injured on the job to seek damages from their employers, and FELA litigation became a central part of his work. He has tried cases to verdict in several states and has represented railroad workers from many crafts.
In May 2024, SWMW Law, a firm focused on representing victims of mesothelioma and other asbestos-related diseases, announced that O'Brien had joined as a partner in its St. Louis office. He was to concentrate on complex civil litigation involving FELA claims and environmental exposure matters.
Membership
O'Brien's bar memberships include the Madison County Bar Association, the Illinois State Bar Association, the Minnesota State Bar Association, the American Bar Association, and The Missouri Bar. State and county bar associations organize lawyers within a particular jurisdiction and support professional standards, continuing legal education, and member services for practicing attorneys.
The American Bar Association, founded in 1878, is the national voluntary professional association of American lawyers. Its membership spans state and local legal communities, offering a national forum for legal education, ethics, and the profession's public responsibilities.
Madison County Bar Association
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United States
Illinois State Bar Association
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United States
Minnesota State Bar Association
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United States
American Bar Association
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United States
The Missouri Bar
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United States
1979
References
Justia
Lawyer profile for Patrick S. O'Brien of Saint Louis, Missouri, giving his education at the University of Missouri and Saint Louis University School of Law and his bar admissions in Illinois, Minnesota, and Missouri.
SWMW Law announcement
Press announcement that Patrick S. O'Brien joined SWMW Law as a partner in its St. Louis office to focus on FELA and environmental exposure litigation.
