Patricia Brown Holmes, along with Tina Glandian, are the two attorneys representing actor Jussie Smollett.
Holmes and Glandian announced at a press conference after a surprise court appearance in Chicago that prosecutors had dropped all charges against Smollett, the “Empire” actor who was indicted on 16 felony counts related to making a false report that he was attacked by two men.
In a lengthy statement, Holmes and Glandian said that Smollet’s slate was “wiped clean.”
“After reviewing all of the facts and circumstances of the case, including Mr. Smollett’s volunteer service in the community and agreement to forfeit his bond to the City of Chicago, we believe this outcome is a just disposition and appropriate resolution to this case,” the statement from Cook County prosecutors’ office spokeswoman Tandra Simonton said.
At the press conference, Holmes said there was no agreement with prosecutors and that the state’s attorney’s office dropped the charges on their own.
“There is no deal. The state dismissed the charges. We have nothing to say to the police department,” Holmes said, adding, “We have nothing to say to the [Chicago] police department except to investigate charges and not try cases in the press.”
1. Holmes is the first African-American Woman to Have Her Name on the Door of a Major Law Firm That is Not Women- or Minority-Owned
via: rshc-law.com
Holmes, 58 or 59, is currently a managing partner at Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila, LLP in Chicago. She was born in San Diego but raised on the South Side of Chicago where she grew up the oldest of five kids.
According to her bio, she “is the first African-American woman to lead and have her name on the door of a major law firm that is not women- or minority-owned.”
“She is a highly respected and accomplished lawyer who focuses her practice on the areas of high-stakes commercial litigation, white collar crime, and legal client counseling,” the bio reads.
She has been at Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila since March 2016, according to her LinkedIn.
“Over the past decade, in her role as a successful and sought-after defense attorney, she has represented a wide range of public and private corporate clients in complex commercial, regulatory and class action litigation as well as in internal investigations involving financial and accounting fraud, corporate whistleblower allegations, contract disputes, and mail and wire fraud,” her LinkedIn reads.
Holmes previously worked for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, served as a Cook County and federal prosecutor and worked as a chief assistant corporation counsel for the city.
2. Holmes Is No Stranger to High-Profile Cases, Including the Investigation of Laquan McDonald’s Death
Holmes was appointed as special prosecutor in July 2016 to investigate the aftermath of the shooting death of Laquan McDonald. The 17-year-old African American male was fatally shot by Chicago Police Officer Jason Van Dyke in October 2014.
In July 2017, she announced charges against Detective David March and patrol officers Joseph Walsh and Thomas Gaffney, charging each of them with conspiracy, official misconduct and obstruction of justice in helping Van Dyke cover up the crime.
In October, 2018, Van Dyke was found guilty at trial of second-degree murder, as well as 16 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm. The other three police officers were found not guilty by the Cook County Circuit Court in January 2019.
Holmes was also the court-appointed trustee of Burr Oak Cemetery after a scandal forced the historic Black cemetery in Alsip to close.
3. In 1999, Holmes Became the Youngest African-American Woman to Serve as an Associate Judge on the Circuit Court of Cook County — And Was then Diagnosed with Lymphoma
Holmes was an associate judge on the Circuit Court of Cook County from December 1997 to July 2005, according to her LinkedIn.
It was in 1999 that Holmes, who had just become the youngest African-American woman to serve as an associate judge on the Circuit Court of Cook County, was diagnosed with lymphoma and given six months to live.
“I tend to be tenacious and determined,” Holmes told ABA Journal in December 2017. “I’m the person you want to have around in an emergency because I’m not paralyzed. I tend to assess the circumstances quickly and accurately and then take appropriate action. But I’m constantly reassessing, listening and looking for new clues that may require a change in direction. I think those skills helped me survive cancer. I didn’t accept the prognosis. I assessed the situation and found ways to fight.”
Holmes credits her Type A personality and an experimental white blood-cell enhancer with saving her life.
Her LinkedIn reveals that she ventured back into private practice in 2005, and at that time “Patricia’s skill and experience were firmly established and widely acknowledged. She is one of a handful of Illinois lawyers who have tried cases in state, city and federal court as well as state appellate, federal appellate, and Illinois Supreme Court. She is also co-writer of a brief that was presented before the US Supreme Court.”
After beating lymphoma, she went on to serve as president of the Chicago Bar Association and helped found the law firm of Riley Safer Holmes & Cancila in July 2015 where she worked until February 2016.
4. Holmes Became a Lawyer Because of a Dare
Holmes graduated from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a bachelor’s degree in 1983.
And then, she went to law school by chance.
“On a dare, Holmes took the LSAT and wound up earning a full scholarship to the University of Illinois College of Law. Upon earning her JD in 1986, she expected to become an intellectual property lawyer,” reveals her interview with ABA Journal.
She explained in the 2017 interview: “I still had an engineering background and I have a scientific mind. But I couldn’t get anyone to hire me because in that field there weren’t folks who look like me. Back then, firms only hired one black person.”
Then, she became a prosecutor handling misdemeanors, felonies and appeals in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, eventually rising to supervisor. Five years later, she moved to the U.S. attorney’s office, leading 25 trials there in five years.
After the U.S. attorney’s office, Holmes became Chicago’s chief assistant corporation counsel for municipal prosecutions, leading such cases for every city department before she eventually joined the Circuit Court of Cook County.
She’s also been an Adjunct Professor of Law at Northwestern University School of Law and an Adjunct Professor of Law, Loyola Institute for Paralegal Studies.
5. Holmes and Her Husband Michael Holmes Have Taken in Struggling High School Students to Their Home
According to the Chicago Tribune, her husband Michael Holmes is the head football coach at Leo High School, an all-male Catholic institution on the South Side.
His LinkedIn confirms his job and shows that the two overlapped during their undergraduate studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
“She and her husband, Michael Holmes, the head football coach at Leo High School, an all-male Catholic institution on the South Side, have even taken in struggling students to help ensure they graduate,” Ronald Safer, a partner where she works in private practice now, told the Chicago Tribune in July 2016