Christian Patno is a strategic Principal at McCarthy Lebit. With over 34 years of distinguished, complex trial experience (and with well over 100 cases to jury trial) Chris oversees the Personal Injury/Wrongful Death practice at the firm. Chris is nationally recognized for his work on catastrophic personal injury, medical malpractice, wrongful death, and defamation matters. His unique skills and vast experience provide him with the ability to process and communicate highly technical information in a commonsense way for juries to understand. Chris has litigated matters not only in many states of the United States, but also as far away as Italy and Puerto Rico. He has dedicated his career and utilized the extensive knowledge gained to not only help clients in court, but just as importantly, to educate manufacturers, employers and property owners of the unique dangers which exist in their environment and how to protect against them. Through litigation, Chris has actually caused companies and medical providers to implement and change their practices so that injuries similar to those in the litigation do not ever happen in the future.
Chris is a firm believer in the verse, “to whom much is given, much will be required”. His generosity with his time and leadership positions in numerous trial organizations evidence this fact. Chris is the Vice President of the American Board of Trial Attorneys, Past-President of Ohio’s largest Trial Lawyers Association (OAJ), and Past-President of Cleveland’s Trial Lawyers Association (CATA). He is often sought as a speaker and educator to state and local trial lawyer organizations on litigation, trial preparation and trial advocacy issues. He is a many-year member of the Executive Committee, Medical Negligence Chairman, and Director on the Board of Directors for OAJ and CATA. Chris is a member of the Negligence Committee of the Ohio State Bar Association. In addition, he is a Supreme Court Certified Mentor who regularly mentors recent law school graduates new to the bar. Since 1998, Chris is one of very few Ohio attorneys who has been board certified as a Board-Certified Diplomat Trial Advocate and has been re-certified multiple times by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. Additionally, he served many years as a Board member of the William K. Thomas American Inn of Court where he recently was bestowed Emeritus status.
Chris is also a recognized member of the Million Dollar Advocates Forum. He is personally responsible for obtaining at least 40 jury verdicts and/or settlements on behalf of his clients in excess of $1 Million. Eighteen of those results have been at or above $2 Million. To date, the highest monetary award Chris has received on behalf of a client is $39 Million, resulting from a record-setting unanimous jury trial verdict in 2014. Chris, on multiple occasions, has also successfully created new law in Ohio at the Appellate Court level expanding and protecting the rights of those injured in Ohio.
As a father, ensuring the safety and protection of innocent children has been a paramount concern of Chris. He has volunteered his time on many occasions to speak with organizations, professionals, and students concerning issues of safety. Many of Chris’ cases have obtained online, print, and televised media exposure. He is a trusted and frequent media legal commentator. Chris prides himself on the fact that his clients primarily come to him by referral from other clients, insurance adjusters, judges, doctors, defendants, and defense attorneys against whom Chris has handled cases. Unlike most other Ohio injury attorneys, Chris chooses not to actively advertise in order to intentionally limit his case volume and be able to personally serve his clients. Chris is recognized across Ohio as the go-to trial attorney for co-counseling complex injury and death cases that are very costly to prosecute and above and beyond the experience and skill set of most injury lawyers.
As a result of his extensive experience, Chris is currently rated by his peers as #2 in the state of Ohio out of all Ohio Super Lawyers® and has been repeatedly selected by his peers of lawyers and judges to the Ohio Super Lawyers® Top 10. Chris has also had the distinction of being named to Ohio Super Lawyers® since 2004, the inception of this recognition. He has further been recognized by The American Trial Lawyers Association as a Top 100 Trial Lawyer, recognized as a Fellow of The Litigation Counsel of America, and has been consistently Avvo® rated 10 out of 10 where his past clients provide consistent reviews. Chris has also been top-rated as AV Preeminent® Peer Review Rated by Martindale-Hubbell® for both his professional ability and high ethical standards for decades and has repeatedly been recognized by The Best Lawyers in America©.
In recognition of his decades of success and professionalism, Chris was invited into the highly selective organizations of the International Society of Barristers® and the American Board of Trial Advocates by his esteemed peers. Membership in these organizations is highly selective and requires years of extensive trial experience. In 2024, Chris was once again recognized by his peers as a leader by being voted into the Office of Vice President for the Ohio Chapter of the Ohio Board of Trial Advocates where he will progress to office of President of this respected statewide trial lawyer organization of both plaintiff and defense lawyers. Finally, in 2023 Chris was nominated by an Ohio Supreme Court Justice, and unanimously approved by all other Justices, to the Ohio Supreme Court Commission on Rules of Practice and Procedure where he currently takes part in assisting the Court in determining the rule-making powers granted in Article IV, Section 5(B), of the Ohio Constitution. In this capacity, Chris serves on the Evidence Rules Subcommittee and is the Vice-Chair of the Civil Rules Subcommittee.
Practice Area(s)
Personal Injury & Wrongful Death
Defamation
Education
Case Western Reserve University School of Law
Juris Doctor (J.D.)
Union College
Bachelor of Arts
Admissions
Ohio
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit
U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio
U.S. District Court, Southern District of Ohio
United States Tax Court
Awards
Affiliations
Articles
Presentations
