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CCCA_V3No3_Col-News-FIN.qxd:CCCA_V1No2_Col-News-V1.qxd 9/16/09 9:50 PM Page 48 CCCA News challenges facing corporate counsel,and our Sometime (soon) I’ll have to put those the big earthquake in Sichuan province. profession more generally,” he says. excuses aside,” he says. Originally we had planned to go to On a personal level, Patterson’s greatest Sports has always been an integral part Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan. joy is spending time with his wife, Brenda, of Patterson’s life.An avid runner, he finds Fortunately, we changed our itinerary and their four children.“Knowing that my time to do the Grouse Grind, a local hik- prior to departure.” eldest son is only one year away from uni- ing trail, four or five times a week, and he As befits a person whose future may versity makes me appreciate all the more ran the Boston Marathon in 2005.A pas- include book authorship, Patterson enjoys how quickly the kids grow up and how I sionate soccer fan who follows the English reading; he makes time for biographies in must ensure I maximize my time and Premier League closely, Patterson has particular.“I like to read about leaders such enjoyment with them while I can,”he says. coached boys’ and girls’ soccer for a num- as Churchill and Lincoln and historical ber of years and currently coach- works on British history or the U.S. Civil es boys’ hockey. War, as well as inspired fiction,” he says. “ My focus is to build nicely with his love of travel. He al dynamics and the traits of successful “There’s much to learn on interperson- His love of soccer dovetails on what we have was planning a trip to England people, or simply to better understand ” included a couple of games in reading about the past and some of the achieved to date. and Ireland, where his itinerary why the world is the way it is today from Derek Patterson, CCCA President Liverpool and London and he was key personalities that helped form the looking forward to gaining a bet- ter understanding of his family’s present,” he says. He will bring this attitude to his role as “It also underlines your own personal roots in the Northwest of England and CCCA president:“My focus is to build on sense of mortality and that you can’t keep Northern Ireland. what we have achieved to date — what putting off till tomorrow what you want Last year, the Patterson family travelled has made CCCA the pre-eminent in- to do today,” says Patterson, whose jam- to China.“My two youngest children are house legal association in Canada — and packed schedule has always included many learning Cantonese.We travelled to China to find new ways of enhancing value to volunteer commitments. “That said, I’ve so we could meet with relatives of my our members,” he says. been keeping notes for future books I wife (who is Chinese-Canadian), and so want to write but continue to find excus- my daughter could practise her Chinese Bev Cline is a history, legal and business es why I don’t have time to write them. language skills. We arrived one day after writer inToronto. par semaine et il a participé au marathon famille de M me Patterson, qui est cana- monde permet de comprendre pourquoi de Boston en 2005. Il a aussi entraîné des dienne et chinoise. le monde est ce qu’il est aujourd’hui »,pré- e filles et des garçons en soccer et s’occupe M Patterson adore lire. Les sujets qui cise-t-il. de jeunes hockeyeurs. l’intéressent particulièrement sont la vie C’est l’attitude qu’il adopte pour Passionné par les voyages,il compte aller de Churchill et de Lincoln et les ouvrages assumer son rôle de président de l’ACCJE, en Angleterre et en Irlande et profiter de historiques sur la Grande-Bretagne ou la son objectif étant de construire à partir des cette occasion pour mieux se familiariser guerre civile américaine,de même que des réalisations de ses prédécesseurs qui ont avec ses racines. œuvres de fiction. positionné l’ACCJE en tant qu’association L’an dernier, la famille Patterson s’est « Il y a tant à apprendre sur les dyn- juridique proéminente. M e Patterson envolée vers la Chine; les deux plus jeunes amiques interpersonnelles et les traits de cherchera également en offrant une valeur enfants qui apprennent le cantonais ont personnalité des personnes qui ont réussi; ajoutée aux membres de l’Association de pratiqué cette langue en compagnie de la lire sur le passé et sur les grands de ce manière innovatrice. 48 CCCA Canadian Corporate Counsel Association FALL 2009