Patricia M. Dugan Bio

Patricia M. Dugan, Esquire, is not your average attorney. As both a practicing Catholic canon lawyer and  civil lawyer, she is one of a select few in the U.S., and one of a handful – and one of the only laywomen – with both degrees throughout the world, and throughout history.

The founding partner in the Philadelphia-based firm Dugan, Carver and Kosinski, with a concentration in family law, Ms. Dugan earned her Juris Canonici Licentia (JCL), summa cum laude, at the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas Aquinas in Rome – the same university from which Pope John Paul II gained his degree – after she had already been practicing law for 10 years. Canon Law is the Code of manmade laws of the Roman Catholic Church -- the study of the Canons or specific statutes of the Code and how they are applied, within the oldest continuing functional legal system in the Western world. Like the Church, Canon Law is universal -- a code of law that knows no national or local boundaries.

The first lay person to chair the canonists annual convention in 2002, Ms. Dugan handles cases on such issues as marriage annulments; sales of property; priest abuse; bequests to religious orders; trusts for children who are nuns or priests; acceptance into an order or the priesthood; leaving an order or the priesthood;  the establishment of an association of the Christian Faithful, such as Society of Saint Vincent DePaul;  the oath of faith that a college professor must take in order to teach in a Catholic institution; issues on Catholic hospitals; issues on Catholic schools; becoming a religious hermit or virgin; parish issues and more.

A member of the American, Pennsylvania, and Philadelphia Bar Associations, the Canon Law Society of America, the Canon Law Society of Great Britain and Ireland, the Canadian Canon Law Society and the Canon Law Society of Australia and New Zealand, Ms. Dugan has served as Auditor for Respondent before a Scottish National Tribunal, Judge Assessor to Tribunal of the Diocese of Dubuque, Iowa, and Defender of the Bond for the Diocese of Camden, New Jersey. The editor of The Penal Process and The Protections of Rights in Canon Law (Midwest Theological Forum; April 2005) – a highly anticipated book due this month on the Proceedings on Sexual Abuse in the Church, detailing a series of lectures held last spring at the Opus Dei University in Rome by Church leaders and thinkers, Ms. Dugan is a frequent guest commentator in the national media, including The O’Reilly Factor, CNN’s Burden of Proof, MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews, NBC10/ Philadelphia, the New York Times, Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, Philadelphia Inquirer, The Irish Edition, San Diego Daily Transcript and The Philadelphia Lawyer, among others. She has served as contributing author to such publications as Roman Replies and Advisory Opinions, published annually by The Canon Law Society of America, The Philadelphia Lawyer; published by The Philadelphia Bar Association, The Irish Edition of Philadelphia and The Temporal Goods Handbook, and is a sought-after lecturer by both legal and religious organizations.

A native of Philadelphia, Ms. Dugan is a graduate of Villanova University, Villanova University Law School, Saint Charles Seminary with an MA in Religious Studies/Moral Theology and the Angelicum.

She is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court.