Wendy L. Patrick, J.D., M.Div., Ph
Wendy L. Patrick is a career trial attorney, recognized by her peers as one of the Top Ten criminal attorneys in San Diego by the San Diego Daily Transcript, and was presented by the Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court with the California Public Lawyer of the Year award from the State Bar’s Public Law Section. Dr. Patrick has completed more than 160 trials, including over 100 jury trials ranging from stalking, to domestic violence, to first-degree murder.
One of Ms. Patrick´s primary fields of emphasis for the past two decades has been legal ethics. She is a past Chair of the California State Bar Ethics Committee (Committee on Professional Responsibility and Conduct), and past Chair of the San Diego County Bar Association’s (SDCBA) Legal Ethics Committee where she served a six-year term. She is also co-chair of the California District Attorneys Association Ethics Committee. Ms. Patrick is widely published in the field of legal ethics, had her own ethics column in the San Diego Daily Transcript for more than a decade, and teaches ethics nationally on a regular basis.
Dr. Patrick is also a member of the Cadre of Experts, End Violence Against Women International (EVAWI), providing consulting services and training in trauma-informed sexual assault response and investigation for law enforcement on a national level, and is one of their annual conference presenters. She is an Institute of Criminal Investigation certified instructor for law enforcement, and certified by the California Practical Chaplain Association as a Chaplain and certified Debriefer Emergency Services.
Dr. Patrick also serves as a consultant and expert witness, explaining various aspects of victimology including reaction to domestic violence, sexual assault, delayed disclosure, and various types of post-event trauma suffered by survivors. She is a course designer and instructor of Victimology and Restorative Justice and Cyber Victimology for Trinity law school. She discusses the science of seduction that characterizes domestic violence progression within relationships, how sexual harassment progresses to sexual assault, and how to distinguish the dangerous from the desirable by recognizing red flags that indicate a pattern of predatory intentions.
Dr. Patrick has considerable experience in threat assessment, including its relationship to crimes such as stalking, domestic violence, and sexual assault. She has prosecuted a steady stream of criminal threats over the years, serves as Sergeant at Arms of the National Board of the Association of Threat Assessment Professionals (ATAP), is the immediate past president of the ATAP San Diego Chapter, and an ATAP Certified Threat Manager.