Patrick G. McDonald graduated from the University of Tampa in 1993 having earned his Bachelor of Science degree. He obtained his Juris Doctorate degree from Nova University and is admitted to practice in all state and federal courts in the State of Florida, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of the United States. He is a member of the Florida Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the American Association for Justice, and the Dade County Bar Association.
Throughout college, he worked part-time as an investigator/clerk for McDonald & McDonald and later as an aviation/marine claims adjuster for McWhorter and Associates, specializing in marine and aviation related insurance claims. After graduation he returned to McDonald & McDonald full-time until 1995. In 1995, after an extensive 5-month long investigation into his character, fitness, well-being, multiple background checks and an oral interview, Patrick was accepted from approximately 3,000 applicants to fill one of only eighteen positions available as a Wildlife Officer in what is today the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission. His experience in enforcing all state and federal laws throughout Florida's territorial lands and waters has proven to be an asset to those clients with maritime, fraud, theft, trespass, and a host of related environmental and regulatory legal issues. He further advanced his knowledge and experience by focusing his studies in law school in the fields of admiralty, aviation, environmental regulation, property, and family law. In his final year of law school the Florida Bar Certified Mr. McDonald as a Legal Intern whereby he was approved to act as a legal representative of the Environmental Land Use Law Center in Fort Lauderdale. His duties involved representing a wide range of clients in issues of environmental regulation, property rights, state and federal regulatory interpretation and state sovereignty.
His mechanical knowledge has stemmed from years of hands-on training by working as an apprentice for Airframe & Powerplant (A&P) Mechanics and Authorized Inspectors (AI) on the several single and multi-engine aircraft his family has owned over the years.
Patrick has continued to maintain his law enforcement certifications and is currently a Reserve Lieutenant for the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, supervising the reserve officers, volunteers and recruits throughout Miami-Dade, Collier and Monroe Counties.
In 2004 Mr. McDonald received his Curriculum Maintenance System (CMS) General Instructor Certification and began teaching constitutional law and other legal topics at Broward College, Institute of Public Safety for local and state law enforcement agencies and departments, including: Corrections, Probation, Public Service Aides, and various other law enforcement academies and continuing education classes. He also served as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) during F.D.L.E's rewrite of the current Curriculum Maintenance System (CMS) Law Enforcement Training Module.
