Elizabeth G. Patterson
Professor of Law
 |
Contact Information
Room 414
USC School of Law
701 Main Street
Columbia, South Carolina 29208
v 803-777-8189
f 803-777-2368
libba@gwm.sc.edu
|
|
Profile
Elizabeth G. Patterson, J.D., recently returned to the law school after four years as State Director of the South Carolina Department of Social Services. She has been a Professor of Law at USC since 1980, specializing in child and family issues, health law, and public law. She has published both in law journals and in journals of other disciplines, and is currently writing about state and federal laws concerning child support enforcement. Professor Patterson was instrumental in creating the Children's Law Center at the USC School of Law and the Children's Committee of the South Carolina Bar, and served as the initial leader of both organizations. She is currently collaborating with several faculty colleagues in creating the Research Consortium on Children and Families, and is a member of its Executive Committee. She has also served as Director of the Center for Families in the Legal System at USC's Institute for Families in Society.
Professor Patterson has been active in reforming South Carolina's laws relating to family and health issues, and drafted much of the state's 1996 Child Protection Reform Act, as well as legislation governing living wills, health care powers of attorney, and medical decision-making by surrogates. While at the Department of Social Services, Professor Patterson was a member of the Board of Directors of the American Public Human Services Association and of the Executive Committee of the National Council of State Human Service Administrators. In 2003 she was presented with the Commissioner's Award for “outstanding leadership and service in the prevention of child abuse and neglect” by the US Department of Health & Human Services.
Professor Patterson is a graduate of Agnes Scott College and obtained her law degree from the University of Arizona College of Law. Prior to attending law school, she worked with the Head Start program and with poverty programs of the Office of Economic Opportunity.
|
