Patrick J. Cotter is a partner in Barnes & Thornburg LLP's Chicago office, where he is a member of the firm's Litigation Department and White Collar Crime Defense Practice Group. Mr. Cotter has experience assisting clients with a wide range of matters in the area of criminal defense, including allegations of financial fraud, government contract work, tax matters, internal corporate investigations, actions under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), appellate and post-conviction work and international criminal law.
Mr. Cotter has worked as an Assistant United States Attorney in New York, where he was one of the trial prosecutors in United States v. John Gotti, et al. He received the United States Attorney General's Distinguished Service Award for his work on the Gotti case, as well as other awards and citations. In 1992-93, Mr. Cotter was a consultant to the United Nations Special Rapporteur investigating allegations of war crimes in the former Yugoslavia. He has since been appointed by the International Tribunal on the former Yugoslavia to its Panel of Appointed Counsel. Mr. Cotter has also appeared as a legal commentator on numerous television and radio programs including Nightline, National Public Radio, Court TV and A&E's American Justice. His commentary has appeared in newspapers in Chicago and around the country.
He has taught criminal law related courses as a full-time faculty member and as an adjunct professor at the Chicago-Kent College of Law, DePaul University School of Law, the University of Montana School of Law and University College Cork, Ireland, Law Department. He has also guest lectured at the University of Chicago School of Law, Loyola University School of Law, and various law schools in Ireland.
Mr. Cotter is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys and the American Bar Association's White Collar Crime, Criminal Law and International Criminal Law Sections. He is admitted to practice in the state of Illinois, the U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Central Districts of Illinois, the U.S. District Court for Northern District of Indiana, and the U.S. Courts of Appeals for the Second and Seventh Circuits.
Mr. Cotter received his B.S. with highest honors from Illinois State University in 1978. He received his J.D. in 1982 from the New York University School of Law, where he was a Root-Tilden Scholar.
Publications
3/12/2012, Federal Criminal Practice 2011 Edition
01/01/2008, Federal Criminal Practice 2008 Edition - "Jury Selection and Instructions"
01/01/2004, Federal Sentencing Guidelines - "Practitioner's Commentaries to the NITA"
01/01/1994, "Prosecution of Rape and Other Gender-Based Violence Before the International Criminal Tribunal..."
01/01/1994, Town and Gown - "Organized Crime in America; Its Development and the Law's Response"
Events
· Barnes & Thornburg's Day at the Park - CLE Lunch and Social Event