Husch Blackwell attorney Patrick Shockey took his first steps toward the law not on a college campus or in a court room during a mock trial competition but on the ballfields of his youth.
Born and raised in New Orleans, Shockey grew up playing team sports. When his father died of cancer when he was 9, some of his coaches became mentors who continued to be involved in his life after baseball or basketball season was over.
One such coach was an attorney who arranged for Shockey to work as a file clerk at Blue Williams, a New Orleans law firm, summers between academic years at Louisiana State University. After Shockey earned his Juris Doctor at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law and passed the Louisiana bar, this same firm hired him to work on asbestos cases.
Shockey connected with Husch Blackwell in 2019 while the firm was scouring The Big Easy for talent. By that time, he had five years of practice with a toxic tort group under his belt, which was sufficient for the Chattanooga firm to bring him on as a general commercial litigation associate.
Today, Shockey, 37, lives on Signal Mountain and works at Husch Blackwell’s office in the Dome Building downtown, where he concentrates on commercial, business and contract disputes, as well as insurance coverage work.
“I might look at whether or not a policy provides coverage for a certain kind of loss,” he explains. “I enjoy it because there are so many different things to learn and so many different kinds of cases to encounter. Even though I deal mostly with businesses, the issues can vary.”
The scope of the cases on which Shockey works also differs greatly. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he made quick work of analyzing business interruption claims, for example. He’s currently working on a coverage case that stretches back 20 years.
“The case involves coverage for asbestos-related disease lawsuits,” Shockey explains. “We represent the policy holder, who’s been sued by thousands of people claiming they suffered an asbestos-related disease. We’ve been involved in litigation with the insurer over coverage for those suits and how much the insurer should pay to cover defending and settling the lawsuits.”
Shockey says he’s relished the work – especially the learning process, which has entailed countless hours of reading policies and coverage opinions, becoming familiar with the relevant laws and scrutinzing the language the attorneys use as they make their cases.
“I learn best by seeing how other people do things and then tailoring them to my style. That’s more or less how I was able to come into this new practice area and provide value.”
The partners at Husch Blackwell must agree that Shockey is a beneficial part of the firm as they recently promoted him to senior counsel. He says he appreciates the affirmation.
“I take it as a sign that I’m doing something right,” he smiles.
Land of dreams
Many people call New Orleans a land of dreams. Famous for its festivals, food and music, the city is a melting pot of history and traditions. Yet Shockey left the home of his cherished NFL Saints and the platefuls of spicy Cajun cuisine he perpetually craved to forge a new life in the Scenic City.
The extreme weather for which New Orleans is also known was a factor in his decision, he reveals.
“Hurricanes are always looming on the horizon, which can be stressful when you’re trying to prepare your house and leave town without knowing what you might find when you return,” Shockey says in a voice tinted with experience.
While Shockey was fed up with storms and flooding, he says his reasons for wanting to leave his home of 30 years went deeper than the weather: He and his wife were starting a family and they wanted to raise their children in a more serene setting.
Shockey met his future spouse, Catie, when she was a graduate student at Tulane University in New Orleans. They were expecting their second daughter when they decided a change of scenery was in order.
Catie’s parents had moved to the Scenic City a few years earlier, and the couple liked what they’d seen and experienced, so after Shockey secured a position at Husch Blackwell, they headed north.
“Chattanooga seemed like a good place to raise a family. We liked the slower pace of life, the lower cost of living and the schools,” Shockey explains.
Despite these perks and his desire to leave New Orleans before the next hurricane reached land, Shockey does confess to having reservations about moving. His days at LSU were the only ones he’d spend living elsewhere, and the thought of leaving his hometown and starting from scratch in an unfamiliar place weighed on him, he says.
“I thought fitting in where families go back for generations might be hard.”
Remembering that LSU had been a good experience helped Shockey to believe Chattanooga could be, too.
And it has been, he says. “Everyone has been welcoming since Day One.”
Family time
Shockey’s day is far from over when he leaves Husch Blackwell. By the time he arrives at his family’s Signal Mountain home, he’s transformed from trusted advisor and counselor to beloved husband and father of three girls. The change isn’t visible on the surface but rather internally, where Shockey harbors emotions that have roots in his father’s death.
“Losing my dad at the age of 9 has shaped me as a father,” he says. “My oldest daughter is the same age as my sister was when our dad passed, and that helps me to be mindful about being present and taking a gentle approach to parenting.
“I’m not by any means a perfect father; I lose patience and yell sometimes. But then I try to refocus and remember to be grateful for what I have. The most important thing about the life I’ve built is my role as a father and a husband.”
The parental figures that helped to fill the void in Shockey’s life included his father’s brother, who started a charity golf event in Chicago to help pay for his and his sister’s education. The annual event raised enough money to allow Shockey to graduate from LSU without incurring any student debt. He says the support he received continues to motivate him to this day.
“I want to make those people proud; I want to not let them down; I want to honor what they did for me by working hard, being a good person and treating others well,” Shockey says. “I try to have that mindset when I come to work each day. I’m more successful some days than others, but I’m always focused on being grateful for their help.”
Shockey is taking a page from the books of his early mentors by coaching recreation teams in a variety of sports, including basketball, softball and soccer. Team sports were important to him growing up, he says, and he sees his present contributions as a way of paying the investment his coaches made in him forward.
As a bonus, Shockey coaches his oldest daughter, who’s taken an interest in the sports he loved as a child.
If Shockey did nothing else but work and pitch in at home, it would be enough. But he also desires to support his colleagues in the law. To that end, he’s serving on the board of the Chattanooga Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, where he previously served on several committees.
“I haven’t had many cases in federal court, so that’s been a good way to get to know people I might not otherwise come across,” Shockey says.
Shockey and his family are also making headway into the Chattanooga community, which he once thought would be an impenetrable mosaic of entrenched families and social circles. He says the people he’s come to know continue to be as welcoming and caring as they were when he and his wife and children moved to the city in 2019, but there’s still progress to be made.
“I definitely feel like I’ve become a part of the firm. I also feel like a part of the Signal Mountain community. But even though New Orleans is a big city, it’s also a city with many small pockets, where everyone knows each other’s family and backstory. So, I don’t feel like a part of the Chattanooga community in that sense. But then again, I spent 30 years in New Orleans and I’ve lived in Chattanooga for six years. It’s taking time, but we’re getting there.”