Patice focuses on employment litigation defense, employment investigations, transportation law, and civil and commercial litigation.
Get To Know Patice
Patice is an attorney with a diverse litigation practice and experience. She focuses primarily on employment litigation defense, employment investigations, transportation law (FELA, SAA, LIA), general civil and commercial litigation, commercial and residential landlord-tenant litigation, and insurance defense.
She has extensive experience litigating cases in state and federal courts as well as in mediation. Through her litigation experience, Patice has garnered extensive knowledge in defending witness and document subpoenas and FOIA requests. As Chair of the firm’s E-Discovery group, she advises clients on all aspects of E-discovery, including litigation holds, custodial interviews/data collection and preservation, and review and production of electronically stored information (ESI). Patice has been involved in extensive discovery matters in complex litigation in both state and federal courts.
Patice is a member of The National Black Lawyers Top 40 Under 40 list. In 2021, she was named to the list Best Lawyers in America for Insurance Law, Litigation - Labor & Employment, and Railroad Law. In 2019, she was named as an inaugural member of the Virginia Lawyers Weekly 2019 Influential Women of Law. She was the Roanoke Bar Association’s Young Lawyer of the Year for 2016 and also that year, was named an inaugural member of the Virginia Lawyers Weekly Up and Coming Attorneys. Virginia Super Lawyers selected her as a “Rising Star” in 2015 through 2021, consecutively. In 2018, she received the Drum Major for Justice Award from the Roanoke Valley chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. In 2014, she was awarded the Rev. F.E. Alexander Award for Excellence in Business by the Roanoke Chapter of the Urban Professional League.
In the community, Roanoke City Council appointed Patice as a Board Member of the Economic Empowerment and Advisory Board and serves as Chair of the EEAB’s Trust Committee. She also serves as a board member of Apple Ridge Farm and Ivies Incorporated of Roanoke Valley. Patice is a member of the Beta Chi Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and is an active member of her church, Loudon Avenue Christian Church. She serves on the Black Disciples Endowment Fund and the Week of Compassion, both national ministry boards of the Disciples of Christ Church.
Experience
Employment/Internal Investigations
- Represent companies, government contractors, and school boards in internal investigation of and litigation arising from former executives’ alleged breaches of fiduciary duty.
- Led internal investigation of a national company into discrimination claims by high-ranking executives.
Employment Litigation Defense
- Leonard v. Electro-Mechanical Corp., 2014 WL 2769125 (W.D.Va. 2014)
- McBeth v. Shearer’s Foods, Inc., 2014 WL 883981 (W.D.Va. 2014)
- Arthur v. Pet Dairy, 2013 WL 6228732 (W.D.Va. 2013)
- Arthur v. Pet Dairy, 2013 WL 6073465 (W.D.Va. 2013)
ERISA
- McCall v. American Elec. Power System Long Term Disability Plan, 2012 WL 2236669 (W.D.Va. 2012)
Eminent Domain
- Lamar Co., LLC v. City of Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority, 2011 WL 8964506 (Va. Cir. Ct. 2011)
False Claims Act
- S. v. Armet Armored Vehicles, Inc., 2014 WL 7045008 (W.D.Va. 2014)
- Skinner v. Armet Armored Vehicles, Inc., 2014 WL 4243670 (W.D.Va. 2014)
Transportation
- Hollingsworth v. Norfolk Southern Ry. Co., 2010 S.E.2d 651 (Va. 2010)
Insurance Defense
- Cook v. John Hancock Life Ins. Co. (U.S.A.), 2013 WL 942384 (W.D.Va. 2013)
Intellectual Property (Trademark Litigation)
- Free Bridge Auto Sales, Inc. v. Focus, Inc., 2014 WL 521661 (W.D.Va. 2014)
Credentials
Recognition
Education
Stetson University College of Law, J.D.
George Mason University, B.A., cum laude
Admissions
Virginia
Florida
District of Columbia Bar
U.S. Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida
U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Virginia
U.S. District Court, Western District of Virginia
Languages
- American Sign Language
- Spanish
Affiliations
- American Bar Association
- Florida Bar Association
- The National Black Lawyers Top 40 Under 40
- Old Dominion Bar Association
- Roanoke Bar Association
- Society for Human Resources Management
- Urban Professional League
- Virginia Bar Association, Membership Co-Chair (23rd Judicial Circuit), Transportation Law Section Council Chair
- Virginia Women's Attorney Association, Roanoke Chapter
- Virginia Association of Defense Attorneys
- Washington and Lee Law School, Adjunct Professor, Civil Rights Law Seminar (2018)
News & Insights
Other Publications & Media
Co-author. “Employment: North America, USA – Virginia.” Lexology Getting the Deal Through, September 19, 2023.
Co-author. “Employment: North America, USA – Virginia.” Lexology Getting the Deal Through, October 17, 2022.
“Subconscious Thoughts and Their Impact on the Workplace.” [pdf] Lynchburg Business, November/December 2018.
“The Big Yellow Taxi Has a New Look.” Lynchburg Business, June 2015.
Lorman Landlord Tenant Seminars, Instructor
Lorman Employment Law Seminars, Instructor
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