PATRICK KEEL
Patrick Keel, a former state district judge, has mediated and arbitrated thousands of disputes, including those involving commercial contracts, construction contracts, employment law, trade secrets, patent, copyright, trademark, real estate, class actions, administrative law, probate, defamation, professional malpractice, family law, and personal injury claims. He is also an adjunct professor in the trial advocacy program at the University of Texas School of Law. In 2009, the Supreme Court of Texas appointed Keel to the Professional Ethics Committee for the State Bar of Texas. Keel also serves as a Title IX Hearing Officer for the University of Texas at Austin.
After obtaining his B.A. in Economics from the University of Texas and graduating with honors from UT Law School in 1989, Keel practiced commercial litigation for thirteen years with Baker Botts LLP, where he was a partner in the firm’s trial department and hiring partner for the firm’s Austin office.
Keel is a member of the Texas Chapter of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals, a sustaining life fellow and trustee of the Texas Bar Foundation, a founding life fellow of the Austin Bar Foundation, a master emeritus and former president of the Robert W. Calvert American Inn of Court, and a member of the Association of Attorney-Mediators. Keel is a frequent speaker on mediation, arbitration, and professional ethics. In 2018, he received the Austin Bar Association’s Professionalism Award, sponsored by the Texas Center for Legal Ethics. In 2017, Keel was selected as the UT Law Alumni Association's Mentor of the Year.
As a lawyer and as a mediator and arbitrator, Keel has been active in Volunteer Legal Services of Central Texas, a non-profit organization that provides legal services to the poor. He is also an alumnus and former executive-committee member of the Texas Lyceum Association, a non-partisan, non-profit organization devoted to public policy and developing the next generation of leadership in Texas. Keel is a volunteer, former director, and past president of the Dispute Resolution Center, an independent, non-profit organization that provides dispute-resolution services in central Texas.
In 1995, Governor George W. Bush appointed Keel to the Texas Commission on Jail Standards, the state agency responsible for setting and enforcing minimum standards for county jails, where he served for seven years. During college, at age 20, Keel was elected to the Lake Travis ISD board of trustees.
Keel is a fifth-generation Austinite and sixth in a family of seven children. His hobbies include trail walking, snow skiing, and water skiing. He is also a decent cook. Keel is a member and volunteer at St. Austin Catholic Church.
