Education

J.D., University of Chicago, cum laude

B.S., Oberlin College

Admissions

District of Columbia

New York

U.S. District Court: District of Columbia, Southern District of New York, Eastern District of New York

U.S. Court of Appeals: District of Columbia Circuit

Patrick A. Sheldon

Partner

(202) 204-8469

Patrick Sheldon’s practice includes civil rights and environmental litigation in the federal and state courts.

Mr. Sheldon is counsel in PennEnvironment v. PPG, Civ. No. 12-342 (W.D. Pa.), a suit brought under the Clean Water Act (CWA), the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and the Pennsylvania Clean Streams Law (CSL) to remedy the contamination of surface waters, soils, sediments, groundwater, and wetlands of a site in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, where PPG Industries, Inc. historically disposed of waste from its manufacturing operations. Mr. Sheldon’s work was instrumental in obtaining a preliminary injunction in 2014 which compelled PPG to apply for an NPDES permit for the site. Mr. Sheldon also prepared briefs which resulted in summary judgments finding PPG liable under the CWA and CSL for unlawful discharges to the Allegheny River, violations of a 2009 Administrative Order, and liable under RCRA for the high-pH seeps and metals contamination at the site. In 2019, Mr. Sheldon represented the plaintiffs in a two-day evidentiary hearing finding in plaintiffs’ favor that injunctive relief under RCRA would not be futile. In 2021, the parties entered a consent order settling the injunctive relief claims.   

Mr. Sheldon is also counsel in a class action suit on behalf of residents of nursing facilities who are challenging the District of Columbia’s systemic failure to comply with its obligations under the American with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act, as interpreted by the Supreme Court in Olmstead v. LC ex rel. Zimring, 527 U.S. 581 (1999). In that case (Brown v. District of Columbia, Civ. No. 10-2250 (D.D.C.)), the plaintiffs allege that the District of Columbia’s program for transitioning Medicaid beneficiaries from nursing facilities to the community, where they can live a less restricted life, is fundamentally inadequate. A decision is pending following the 2021 trial in this matter.

Mr. Sheldon was counsel for the plaintiff class in their success in DL v. District of Columbia, 860 F.3d 713 (D.C. Cir. 2017). This appeal was brought by the District of Columbia to defeat the relief awarded to a class of young children who were being denied required special education services. Mr. Sheldon’s work in this appeal focused on the class certification issues under Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Mr. Sheldon was lead counsel in an employment suit brought in 2017 under the District of Columbia Whistleblower Protection Act (Rogers v. DC and Anthea Seymour, Civ. No. 2017 CA 005342 B (D.C. Super. Ct.)). After discovery, the parties entered a settlement agreement in 2019 and the suit was voluntarily dismissed.

Mr. Sheldon has also worked on various aspects of the Salazar v. District of Columbia, Civ. No. 93-452 (D.D.C.) class action, including representing individuals before the District of Columbia Office of Administrative Hearings on claims relating to their Medicaid benefits.

Mr. Sheldon graduated from Oberlin College in 1997 and received his J.D., with honors, from the University of Chicago Law School in 2004. While in law school, he was a student staff member of the MacArthur Justice Center, where he worked on prisoners’ rights and Guantánamo Bay detainee habeas litigation. Following law school, Mr. Sheldon worked as an associate legal officer at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and was a litigation associate at Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP’s New York and Washington, D.C. offices. While at Cleary Gottlieb, Mr. Sheldon worked on commercial litigation, enforcement matters, and Anti-Terrorism Act litigation, and worked pro bono on Guantánamo Bay detainee habeas litigation.