Attorney Russell Pate earned his law degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law. He then earned a masters-of-law from California Western School of Law in San Diego in the area of trial advocacy. Attorney Pate started his legal career working for a large plaintiff’s law firm helping people around the world who had developed cancer from exposure to asbestos and other toxic substances. Next, he worked with the Federal Public Defender’s Office in Texas practicing criminal defense in the federal courts of the United States. Before opening his own law firm, he worked for an insurance defense firm on St. Thomas.
Attorney Pate has twice served as President of the Virgin Islands Bar Association, he has been voted Best Lawyer in the Virgin Islands for multiple years, and he served on the V.I. Supreme Court’s Rules Committee. Further, Attorney Pate’s work focuses on some of the biggest and most complicated lawsuits in the Virgin Islands, which have resulted in over $300 million in settlements and verdicts. He has the largest personal injury trial verdicts in the Virgin Islands at $82 million and $31 million for wrongful death.
Attorney Pate is a strong advocate for the United States to stop treating Americans in the U.S. Territories as second-class citizens. Men and women in the Virgin Islands have fought for the United States in all branches of the military. All gave some and some gave all, laying down their lives for the American freedoms of democracy and liberty. There is no excuse why Americans in the Virgin Islands should not be included in every level of government which governs them. This is a basic and fundamental principal of American democracy. Those in the USVI should be able to vote for the President, two U.S. Senators and a Congressional Representative, as well as run for those positions themselves.
Outside of his advocacy, Attorney Pate enjoys gardening and growing Caribbean and African herbs, plants and trees to make local bush teas. You may also see him paddle-boarding from Rainbow Beach to Sandy Point or across the Big Island spray-painting yellow warnings around potholes.
Attorney Pate opened his own law office in 2010. Voted best lawyer in the Virgin Islands multiple times and elected President of the Virgin Islands Bar Association twice!
After law school, Attorney Pate worked in Dallas, but he didn’t like the sprawl of the big city. “You would go outside at night and you couldn’t see the stars in the sky. All you could hear was road noise and car traffic. Now, I stand outside and look up at God’s magnificent creation and I am surrounded by a symphony of frogs, crickets, and sounds of nighttime nature.” When asked about his transition from city to island, Pate responded, “The Virgin Islands is a perfect fit for me. I love the sense of community. We are all in this together with VI pride, trying to make the VI a better place for us. My mom is from Aruba and I spent summers in the Caribbean, so I am so happy my son is born in the Caribbean too.”
Many of Attorney Pate’s cases tackle big issues. He has filed class actions, large complex toxic exposure cases and serious personal injury cases. Further, he works with the Legislature of the Virgin Islands in crafting and updating the laws to help make people safer in the Territory. Attorney Pate also holds the record for largest personal injury trial verdicts in the Virgin Islands, at $82 million and $31 million for wrongful death.
Regretfully with less time to travel now, Attorney Pate reminisces on a trip to Africa. “Africa is the birthplace and home of all humankind. To strip away all the materialism, the small problems of life and to focus on the vastness of creation, faith, family, nature, helping others – our brothers and sisters. It made me count my blessings. Being there was a since of spiritual fulfillment.”
Attorney Pate handles personal injury and wrongful death cases. These cases pend sometimes for years in the court. “I have cases where my clients are seriously ill and the legal process can be long and stressful. I truly admire the strength of my clients. Fighting for your rights and going to trial is no easy task when healthy. Doing this when you are hurt is nothing short of heroic.”
“Personal injury is much more than just injury to your body. People are more than just flesh-and-blood. We are created in God’s image with a mind, body and soul, which includes all our hopes, dreams, happiness, and peace of mind. When this is wrongfully robbed due to the unnecessary carelessness of others, it’s the Court and Jury’s job is to provide full and fair compensation in money as a trade for all wrongs and harms caused. By holding wrongdoers accountable with money damages, a lawsuit can take the profit out of harming others. As a result, what happened to one person, will not happen again to someone else, and the whole community is safer.”