Patrick A. Tuite – Beloved & Respected

By Edward M. Genson
Partner, Genson & Gillespie

I’ve known Patrick Tuite for about 45 years.

I’ve tried cases with him for close to 40.

He is the best pure lawyer I have ever worked with.

He is both a brilliant trial and appellate lawyer – a rare combination.

Pat and I have spent innumerable hours over many decades speaking about our cases – Pat will drive you insane with his non-stop theories, both tactical and legal, sometimes brilliant and always inventive. He’s the world’s champion in inventive.

The first time I saw Pat, a law school friend invited me to watch him second chair a trial with then prosecutor, Patrick Tuite, (yes, he was once a prosecutor ) in what was then a very public murder case – the Branion case. A socially prominent doctor was charged with the murder of his wife -there was not one piece of direct evidence .The case was straight out of Law and Order Criminal Intent. A missing gun- a girl friend- a questionable alibi. I had at that time never tried a jury trial and I was transfixed. Pat did some brilliant examinations and paired it with a brilliant closing. To this day I have never seen another lawyer with better jury presence.

A friend of both of ours and a great lawyer in his own right, John Powers Crowly once told me that the perfect law firm consisted of an Irishman trying the cases and a Jew doing the appeals. Certainly the story is politically incorrect but perfectly apropos here given Pat’s ethnic heritage. He embodied both of these attributes – the entire package.

He has had unparalleled strings of successful cases as a trial lawyer – I was jealous as hell although I think I have covered it well – maybe not so well. He has, for his whole career been a model for every defense lawyer in Chicago.

For most of his career he has been the voice of the trial bar. He has been a constant defense bar advocate – a defender of the rights of the accused and those of us that defend those rights. In the era of the talking heads in the media I applaud the role he took on and wish there was someone to replace him.

He has tirelessly worked on behalf of this association and took a very fragmented trial bar and gave it a center that we could all be proud of.

He is a good person. His charity and pro bono works are well known in the profession.
Never off a day – always at his best. Always there to help a colleague.

I am proud to have been selected to tell all of you about my friend and how all of us owe him a debt of gratitude for a career always well played