Hi, I’m Wayne Patton.
I graduated in the top 10% of my law school class at Vanderbilt University, where I served on the prestigious Law Review, earned the Joe C. Davis merit scholarship for law and economics, clerked for Justice Randy Holland of the Delaware Supreme Court, received the highest grade in Federal Tax Law, and was named to the Order of the Coif. As an undergraduate, I majored in Finance and minored in English at Florida State University.
After law school, one of my essays on the Florida bar exam was published in the official study guide as the model answer. I have also been featured in the New York Times.
Professionally, I began my career working as a corporate mergers and acquisitions attorney for Locke, Liddell & Sapp (now Locke Lord) – one of the world’s largest law firms. In that role, I provided corporate level asset protection for some of the largest and most sophisticated companies in the world. I have also spent time practicing commercial litigation and learning how asset protection mechanisms function in the context of a lawsuit. Before starting my own firm, I served as the Managing Attorney for the asset protection law firm Lodmell & Lodmell.
Why Asset Protection?
When I was fourteen years old, I worked 10+ hours per day in a manual labor job for $100 per week. At the end of the summer, I had saved $900. I put that money out on loan, thinking it would earn some interest, but I never again saw a dime of those crisp hundred dollar bills. The traumatic experience of losing every penny was a devastation that has shaped me personally and professionally. It made me want to figure out how to protect myself and people like you from similar experiences. Losing that $900 seemed terrible at the time, but it led me to this profession, so it turned out to be the best money I’ve ever spent.
My Background
I was born in Miami and grew up on a thoroughbred racehorse farm in Ocala, Florida. When I was seven years old, I asked my parents for a swimming pool. They said “no,” so I lit out into the backyard with a shovel in hand, dug a huge hole, and lined it with a boat tarp that I found in my grandfather’s workshop.
A little later in life I started a “Save the Dolphins” campaign and successfully lobbied local elementary and middle schools to remove tuna from their school lunch menus. Think about the magnitude of that achievement in light of Jerry Seinfeld’s comment that the entire concept of lunch is based on Tuna.
The Education
I started working with thoroughbreds when I was about ten years old, and it was through working with very expensive horses that I began learning how to appreciate and care for things of value. I also became and excellent horseman and an accomplished calf roping rodeo cowboy.
After high school, I started my “real education” at Florida State. After graduating with a 4.0 in Finance classes, I headed north to Nashville for law school at Vanderbilt University.
While at Vanderbilt, this Florida boy nearly froze to death. During my second year of law school, I served as an Extern Clerk for the Delaware Supreme Court. It was during my time in Delaware – which is widely regarded as the “Corporate Capital of the World” – that the Court was deciding Omnicare, the Court’s first split decision on a corporate law issue since the 1970’s.
I moved to Dallas after law school where I practiced corporate law and mergers and acquisitions. Many of the clients I served were Fortune 500 companies, and I quickly found myself learning corporate asset protection.
Asset Protection Attorney Wayne Patton
I moved back to South Florida after 30 years of being away and became the Managing Attorney of Lodmell & Lodmell, where I exclusively practiced as an asset protection attorney for individuals. Applying what I had learned as a corporate and mergers and acquisitions attorney, I improved on current asset protection strategies for individuals and small businesses and, just like I did when I was seven years old, I lit out on my own with the proper tools in hand.
Only this time the goal was to create the most effective asset protection law firm on the planet and serve as a concierge legal service to my clients.
On the personal end of things, I have a passion for sailing. My Cuban grandfather gave me a little sailboat named Sueno de Pirata that he restored after finding its bullet-ridden hull in a junkyard. I also love to fly and will soon finish getting my pilot license. When I’m not working, I’m on the water fishing, diving or sailing, or I’m out west skiing or hiking.