Team

Deborah K. Patterson received her Bachelor of Arts degree and Masters of Education degree from Southern Oregon University (formerly Southern Oregon College) in Ashland, Oregon. After teaching in Medford, Oregon, and later Davis, California, Ms. Patterson embarked upon a second career, graduating from University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, where she received the Moot Court Honors Board Award as a finalist in the written appellate Brief Competition. Upon graduation, Ms. Patterson focused on probate, trust and conservatorship law and became the designated litigation attorney at the firm of Webb, Patterson & Tapella, handling estate and trust cases throughout the state of California. Ms. Patterson represented appellants in five appeals in the Third Appellate District Court of Appeals and won all five cases.

Ms. Patterson is a past Chair/President of the Probate & Estate Planning Section of the Sacramento County Bar Association (SCBA), and while serving as the Chair, organized a joint project with the Voluntary Legal Services Program to establish the Probate Section Assistance Clinic at the William R,. Ridgeway Family Relations Courthouse where family members seeking guardianship of minors left parentless by death, incarceration or addiction received free legal assistance. Ms. Patterson later served as a SCBA board member as the MCLE Chair in charge of seminars and presentations for legal education, and as liaison to the 19 sections of the SCBA. Ms. Patterson has served as a settlement judge pro-tem for Sacramento County Superior Court, in the Probate Department, and is an experienced mediator in the areas of probate, trusts, conservatorships and administration of estates and trusts.

Ms. Patterson is a Yolo County Master Gardener and is an active runner with a running group in Davis that competes in marathons throughout California.