Patrick J. Hines

Patrick focuses his practice on business litigation and insurance defense matters. He has extensive experience defending catastrophic construction accident, products liability, car accident, and toxic exposure claims — including environmental mass tort litigation. In addition to his personal injury defense practice, Patrick handles a variety of business tort and contract litigation matters on behalf of financial institutions and other commercial clients, including claims involving breach of non-compete agreements, breach of fiduciary duty, tortious interference with contract, and other business torts. Patrick’s commercial practice also involves defense and prosecution of claims involving intellectual property, including copyright and trademark disputes, trade secret claims, and confidentiality agreements.

Patrick is the leader of the Hodgson Russ Hemp & Medical Cannabis Practice. In that role, he advises clients on a range of issues affecting the cultivation, processing, distribution, and sale of cannabis and hemp products. Patrick provides counsel to businesses seeking licenses to operate within the industry, as well as clients seeking to do business with the cannabis industry, with a focus on regulatory compliance and risk minimization. Disclaimer: Possession, use, distribution, and sale of cannabis and cannabis products is illegal under federal law. No legal advice Hodgson Russ gives is intended to provide any guidance or assistance in violating federal law.

Patrick is also a member of the Hodgson Russ Media Law & First Amendment Practice, which counsels clients on matters such as defamation claims, privacy law, right of access to information, and free speech.

Before joining Hodgson Russ, Patrick served as a summer law clerk for U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny, and as an intern with the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia.

• Listed, Upstate New York Super Lawyers (Business Litigation) 2023
• Listed, Best Lawyers in America Ones to Watch, (Commercial Litigation, Personal Injury Litigation - Defendants) 2022 - 2024
• Listed, Upstate New York Super Lawyers Rising Stars (Business Litigation) 2015 - 2022
• Former notes and submissions editor, Notre Dame Law Review
• William T. Kirby Award for excellence in brief writing, Notre Dame Law School

• New York State Bar Association
• Bar Association of Erie County
• Defense Research Institute
• Member, New York State Bar Association, Committee on Cannabis Law

• Chair, Board of Directors: Neglia Ballet Artists (2019)