From construction to attorney, AGC of Wisconsin’s Whiting takes unusual path

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From newspaper reporter to assistant attorney general, Patrick Whiting hasn’t taken the most direct path to his job as general counsel for the Associated General Contractors of Wisconsin.

But, looking back, it’s a road paved almost entirely by his connections to construction.

It started when he was still in school.

“I worked construction one summer, and I was the worst construction worker in the world,” said Whiting, who joined AGC of Wisconsin in May. “It was very clear I needed to be behind a desk instead of swinging a hammer. But there’s something satisfying about knowing I play a small part in something being built.”

Even during his days as a reporter — first with his hometown paper, the Waunakee Tribune, and later with papers in Virginia, Michigan and Minnesota — Whiting couldn’t quite shake his interest in the industry.

“I covered a lot of city council meetings and disputes about land use,” Whiting said. “I just thought what they did was cool. They seemed to be thinking hard about coming up with answers to problems and fixing things. It became something I definitely wanted to do.

“And, if I worked for the New York Times, I might have stuck with (journalism),” Whiting said. “But the skills it takes to be a good reporter really transferred over to the law — being analytical, asking one more question each time.”

So, Whiting went to law school. In 2006, he became an attorney. The following year he became an assistant attorney general with the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office, where he represented the Minnesota Department of Transportation on everything from eminent domain to construction contracts. He was even part of the team that dealt with the I-35W bridge collapse.

“Which is, ultimately, what kind of led me to this,” Whiting said.

But not before a stint with the Minneapolis law firm of Fredrikson & Byron, which, based on his eminent domain work for the state, recruited Whiting to represent Xcel Energy and other companies building the CapX2020 project, an electric transmission grid in Minnesota, the Dakotas and Wisconsin.

But, when his interest in construction continued, he decided to make a change.

“There’s something really nice about construction law,” he said. “You’re helping people create things, literally. They build things. That’s a big deal.”

So, when he got the chance to join AGC, Whiting said he jumped at it, eager to embrace the opportunity to work with a smaller group, instead of a law firm.

“That was something I wanted to do at some point in my career, kind of be the lawyer on staff instead of part this massive group of lawyers. I thought that would be cool. And it has been.”

Wisconsin Law Journal: When you have a bad day, what keeps you coming back to work?
Patrick Whiting: One is the fact that I have a family. But more than that I think that what we do is important and it’s vital to our members and helpful. I’ve had enough jobs in my life to know you’re going to have bad days. It doesn’t mean you have a bad job. It just means some days are worse than others. But being able to help people with their problems is what a lawyer does, and that is a nice job. It’s good to be helpful, and that feels worthwhile all the time.

WLJ: What is the most useful thing you’ve learned since starting your job?
Whiting: I think it’s never a good idea to fake it. It is always better to fess up and say right away, ‘I don’t know what the answer is, but give me a little time and I can find it.’ It’s better to be right than to appear smart. And just being kind, I think, goes a long way.

WLJ: What do you wish you’d learned sooner?
Whiting: There’s not a whole lot, and I’m not trying to sound arrogant, but there’s not a whole lot of big missteps in my career. And that’s based entirely on the fact that I’ve always been surrounded by really good people and mentors, so I haven’t done a lot of really stupid things.

WLJ: What do you consider your biggest achievement so far?
Whiting: I’ve been able to work in a few different settings and have not gotten fired from any of them. My biggest achievement? I’ve gotten to learn about the law. I’ve gotten to see things from different angles: government, a big law firm and, now, a smaller, private group. And it’s continued to be interesting and it’s, generally, been pretty fulfilling.

WLJ: What can you spend hours doing that’s not work-related?
Whiting: I like to go to concerts. I like to read. And spending time with my wife and children, our two boys.

WLJ: If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Whiting: There’s so many things. In general, as a human being, I’d be more patient. That can sometimes be a pain for the people around me. I wish I were two inches taller. I think by far and away my biggest weakness is patience. But I’m trying. Fortunately, having two children — that stretches your patience, it conditions, so I think I’m getting better.

WLJ: What are you craving right now?
Whiting: I’m craving going up to my in-laws house on Crescent Lake in Rhinelander.

WLJ: Which famous person would most like to have a drink with?
Whiting: I think I’d like to have a Mojito with Ernest Hemingway somewhere in Havana.