Patti Vannoy is a partner with Mattson Ricketts, where she focuses her practice on investors’ rights and insurance issues.  She has represented more than 400 clients with claims involving private placements, real estate investment trusts, variable annuities, life insurance, and all manner of securities, including cases against broker-dealers, registered investment advisers, insurers, and clearing firms.  She has also led work on bad faith claims related to the financial services industry, against both errors and omissions and directors and officers insurers, and has represented several whistleblowers seeking protection under the Dodd-Frank Act and Sarbanes-Oxley.  Before practicing law, Patti worked as a reporter and editor with major newspapers in the Midwest.

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Patti also enjoys a general civil practice, which includes labor law, civil litigation, contract negotiation, real estate, estate planning, and advising startup and small businesses. She currently serves as a Commissioner on the Nebraska Commission of Industrial Relations.

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Education:

• 2009 University of Nebraska College of Law, J.D. with distinction

• 2005 University of Nebraska-Lincoln, B.J. with highest distinction

Licensed:

• Nebraska state and federal courts

• Colorado state courts

• Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals

Honors & Awards:

• Nebraska Law Review

• University of Nebraska College of Law Moot Court Board

Involvement:

• FINRA Arbitrator

• Nebraska Commission of Industrial Relations Commissioner

• Leadership Nebraska Class VII

• Leadership Lincoln Fellows XXVI

• Leadership Lincoln Board of Directors

• Alpha Phi Nu Chapter Advisory Board

• Robert Van Pelt American Inn of Court

• Nebraska State Bar Association

  • Natural Resources Section Executive Committee, Past Chair

  • Securities Section Executive Committee, Vice-Chair

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Publications & Presentations:

• R.I.P.: The Federal Common Law Waiver Approach to Retirement Plan Death Benefits Finally Rests in Peace After Kennedy v. Plan Administrator for DuPont Savings & Investment Plan, 497 F.3d 426 (5th Cir. 2007), aff’d 129 S. Ct. 865 (2009), 88 Neb. L. Rev. 204 (2009)

• Holding a Water Right is No Guarantee You Can Tap the Liquid Gold, Nebraska Cattlemen magazine, January 2011 (with Stephen D. Mossman)

• Trust, But Verify: Know Who You are Contracting With and Put it in Writing, Nebraska Cattlemen magazine, March 2011 (with Stephen D. Mossman)

• Good Fences Make Good Neighbors, Nebraska Cattlemen magazine, April/May 2011 (with Stephen D. Mossman)

• Environmental Regulators at Your Doorstep, Nebraska Cattlemen magazine, August 2011 (with Stephen D. Mossman)

• 2014 PIABA Annual Meeting: “Whistleblowing Programs – The First Full Year of Dodd Frank WP in Full Swing and Others to Think About”

• 2015 PIABA Annual Meeting: “Strategies and Pitfalls in Suing and Collecting from Smaller Broker-Dealers”

• 2016 PIABA Annual Meeting: “The Ethics of Representing Clients in Unique Situations”

• 2017 PIABA Annual Meeting: “Supervision (or Lack Thereof) at Independent-Contractor Broker-Dealers”

• 2018 PIABA Annual Meeting: “Behavioral Science: Understanding Why Arbitrators Rule Against Customers”

• 2019 PIABA Annual Meeting: “Win at Mediation an Arbitration Using the Science of Behavioral Psychology to Your Advantage”

• Interest Arbitration, Chair of the Board of Editors (forthcoming)