Judge Patricia J Kerrigan
Judge Kerrigan brings 24 years of trial experience and 10 years as a District Court Judge to her mediation and arbitration practice. Through that experience she has developed a keen understanding of the law, the courtroom and people. Those skills, in combination with preparation and hard work, have helped her successfully mediate and handle arbitrations involving complex commercial disputes, such as oil and gas, fiduciary duty, royalties, contract, insurance coverage, legal and medical malpractice, personal injury and employment matters.
credentials & associations
Judge Kerrigan is a Panel Arbitrator with The International Institute For Conflict Prevention and Resolution (CPR) and Judicial Workplace Arbitrations (JWA) and the Roster of Arbitrators and Mediators with the American Arbitration Association (AAA) Roster of Arbitrators and Mediators. She is also often selected to arbitrate independent arbitrations. Since 2017 she has arbitrated over 75 cases and mediated over 150 cases.
While on the bench she was invited to participate in the National Courts and Science Institute- Los Alamos Judicial Science Program and participated in The Advanced Science and Technology Adjudication Resource Judge Fellow Program. In 2015 she was named Trial Judge of the Year by the Texas Association of Civil Trial and Appellate Specialists and by the Houston Press
organizations
Judge Kerrigan graduated from Boston University (BSN) and after receiving her J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center, she worked at Fulbright & Jaworski LLP, now Norton Rose Fulbright, where she became a partner in 1992. In 1997 she formed Werner, Kerrigan & Ayers LLP where she remained until appointed as Judge of the 190th District Court in Harris County, Texas in 2007. During her 25 years as a trial lawyer (who loved trying cases) she was invited to become a member of The American Board of Trial Advocates (ABOTA) in which she has remained active, serving as President of the local chapter, as a representative to the ABOTA’s National Board of Directors (2021) and Chair of the local Tex-ABOTA Diversity Committee(2020). She was the first woman President of the Texas Association of Defense Counsel and of the Association of Defense Trial Attorneys. She has served on numerous Texas State Bar committees including as Chair of Volume 1 of the Pattern Jury Charge Committee and is a Fellow of the Houston and Texas Bar Foundations. In her trial practice she developed and tried tort and commercial litigation cases and served as National Coordinating Counsel on product lines for a major manufacturer and on the National Litigation Team for a manufacturer of children’s products and on the National Trial Team for a medical device manufacturer. Judge Kerrigan is a member of the American Leadership Forum Class of XVIII.
Her hobbies include hiking, skiing, art and music – she sang with the Writ Kickers, a country and western band, and currently sings with the St Andrew Choir.