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Sullivan brings perspective to health care defense

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//February 18, 2016//

Sullivan brings perspective to health care defense

By: Erika Strebel, [email protected]//February 18, 2016//

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Staff photo by Kevin Harnack
Staff photo by Kevin Harnack

Patrick Sullivan started out as a special education teacher, spending four years in Milwaukee Public Schools.

“God bless the good teachers, but I was not one of them,” he said.

Sullivan, a managing partner at Siesennop & Sullivan, has a master’s degree in teaching and very early on thought he wanted to be a teacher. It all now seems like a far cry from his current work as a defense attorney for health care providers.

“I find medicine to be fascinating and I am always learning something new on every case,” he said. “It affects all of us at one point in our lives.”

The toughest part of Sullivan’s job is that the cases he tries are emotional and he finds himself often having sympathy for the plaintiff. In the end, though, two things help him overcome any hurdles.

First, Sullivan said, is that he is inherently competitive. The second is that he recognizes it’s often his responsibility to bring perspective to a case.

“What’s at issue in all my cases is an unfortunate outcome for an elderly person. … I understand that families have very high expectations, and I like to balance that perspective,” he said. “The population we talk about is the sickest and in need of the most care. Under that situation, there is always a potential for an unfortunate outcome.”

And although Sullivan’s work can be emotionally charged, he does not let that get in the way of treating opposing counsel with respect.

“I really feel that there’s a lack of civility amongst a lot of attorneys that needn’t be there,” he said. “Between the lines we have to hit hard, but at the end of the day, it’s a profession and we have to be professionals.

“I hope that other attorneys feel that way about me. I treat everyone with respect even though we are adversaries.”

The competitiveness that Sullivan finds vital to his work also spills into his personal life. He runs a marathon a year and jogs almost every day at lunchtime.

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