PATRICK J. DUCHARME is a lawyer and an author of books and articles.
He was recently awarded the G Arthur Martin Medal, a highly prestigious “lifetime achievement award” bestowed on only one lawyer or judge per year.
He is also a fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, one of the premier legal associations in the U.S. and Canada.
Founded in 1950, the College is composed of the best of the trial bar from the United States and Canada. The Call to Fellowship in the College of American Trial Lawyers is by special invitation only, an honour and distinction of the highest order, bestowed upon those few, exceptional trial lawyers in the United States and Canada whose art of advocacy and whose standards of ethical conduct, professionalism, civility, and collegiality are judged to be models to be emulated by the lawyer population at large in any state or province. Fellowship in the College of American Trial Lawyers is regarded as such a rare and exclusive privilege that it can never be extended to more than 1% of the total number of lawyers in any state or province.
There are currently approximately 5,739 members in the United States and Canada, including active Fellows, Emeritus Fellows, Judicial Fellows (those who ascended to the bench after their induction) and Honorary Fellows. The College strives to improve and elevate the standards of trial practice, the administration of justice and the ethics of the trial profession. Qualified lawyers are called to Fellowship in the College from all branches of trial practice. They are carefully selected from among those who customarily represent plaintiffs in civil cases and those who customarily represent defendants, those who prosecute accused of crime and those who defend them. The College therefore speaks with a balanced voice on important issues affecting the legal Profession and the administration of justice.
Patrick was the senior partner and founding member in the Windsor law firm of Ducharme Weber LLP and practiced in the Province of Ontario for nearly fifty years. He has also been selected by his peers to be included in Woodward and White’s “The Best Lawyers in Canada”. Best Lawyers compiles lists of outstanding attorneys by conducting exhaustive peer-review surveys in which thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers. Because lawyers are not required or allowed to pay a fee to be included, a listing in Best Lawyers is widely regarded within the legal profession as a single honor, conferred on a lawyer by his or her peers. For more than thirty years, Best Lawyers lists have earned the respect of the profession, the media, and the public, as the most reliable, unbiased source of legal referrals anywhere.
Patrick has also been a sessional lecturer in Criminal Procedure and Trial Advocacy, Faculty of Law, University of Windsor since 1982. He publishes peer-reviewed articles, papers and book reviews in the field of criminal law regularly. He has been awarded the Charles Clarke Award for Professional Integrity and Community Service and the Chamber of Commerce Award as Business Professional of the Year. He has received similar awards from the University of Windsor, the Iris House, the Humane Society and the University of Windsor Law School.