The Impact of an Educator
Tom Patten joins the BU/MIT Student Innovations Law Clinic as lecturer and clinical instructor.
The Impact of an Educator
Tom Patten joins the BU/MIT Student Innovations Law Clinic as lecturer and clinical instructor.
“While I was in law school [at Northeastern University School of Law], I had the opportunity to participate in the Community Business Clinic and it was one of the most eye-opening legal experiences I had,” says Tom Patten, lecturer and clinical instructor in the BU/MIT Student Innovations Law Clinic (a newly integrated clinic formed from the Startup Law Clinic and the Technology Law Clinic). Professor Patten joins BU Law to provide legal advice and guidance to student entrepreneurs from BU and MIT in the clinic’s venture & finance practice group.
“My mother was a teacher and my father an attorney, so there was always an emphasis on education and learning generally,” Patten says. “I got to meet many of my mother’s former students and so learned very early on how much impact an educator can have on a student’s life.” His own clinical instructor emphasized the importance of “demystifying” the law and understanding the client’s perspective. Those lessons had a major impact on how Patten would later approach his practice, and he “always viewed clinical teaching as an eventual career goal.”
Before joining the BU Law faculty, Patten was in-house counsel to several financial technology startup companies, focusing on consumer lending, securities crowdfunding, and providing day-to-day legal advice. Prior to his in-house practice, he was an enforcement attorney with the Massachusetts Securities Division, where he investigated violations of the Massachusetts Securities Laws and enforced subsequent consequences. He also clerked at Pollack Solomon Duffy LLP and Donovan Hatem LLP in Boston through Northeastern University School of Law’s Cooperative Legal Education Program.
At BU Law, Professor Patten is looking forward to growing the BU/MIT Student Innovations Law Clinic (SILC) by preparing students “to practice law with a clear head and open eyes.”
“The clinical program I participated in exposed some of the challenges that face lawyers every day and positioned me to be able to navigate those issues through my early years as a lawyer,” Patten says. “I hope to be able to impart some of those same lessons.”
The newly restructured BU/MIT Student Innovations Law Clinic was introduced in 2023. It provides free and confidential legal services for students at BU and MIT seeking assistance related to their research, advocacy, and creative projects. Preceded by the BU/MIT Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property & Cyberlaw Program, SILC is staffed by BU Law students under law faculty supervision, and is the only legal service in the country that exclusively represents students. While Patten will advise the venture & finance practice group, the clinic also includes an intellectual property & media practice group and a privacy, security & health practice group specialization as well.
Different areas of law intersect more often than people realize when they are starting out, and having a broad baseline to even simply identify if an issue could exist really helps when breaking down legal questions or open new strategies to achieve client goals.
Beyond his work in the clinic, Professor Patten advises BU Law students to expand their horizons and explore the different facets of their legal education. “There are a lot of different areas of law to practice in and most of them are deep, engaging, and fascinating in their own way,” Patten says. “The truth is, until you begin working with something, it’s hard to tell if it’s something that you enjoy.” Aside from self-discovery, experiencing as many different sides of the law as possible can help provide a baseline for understanding a variety of legal questions and developing new strategies in practice down the line.
Patten is a graduate of Northeastern University School of Law and obtained a Bachelor of Arts in economics and environmental analysis and policy from Boston University. His ever-growing list of interests range from 3D printing and computer building to experimenting with different styles and methods of cooking. He is always looking to develop a skill or try his hand at something new under the watchful supervision of his beagle, Barney.