BACKGROUND CHECK
Ed Lanquist | Bart Pickett
Born in Crossville, Ed Lanquist lived there until his parents divorced, and he moved with his mother and stepfather to California, South Dakota, and finally Iowa where he graduated from high school. He then moved back to Crossville where he still had family as he was preparing for college. While he originally intended to attend Iowa State, Lanquist changed his mind and ended up at UT Knoxville starting in 1981. While at UT, he majored in civil engineering. Lanquist remembers his stepfather, a lawyer, telling him that since he was good at math that he should get an engineering degree so that patent law would be an option for him if he chose to go to law school. Following college graduation in 1985, Lanquist did decide to continue on to law school. Since he was already in Knoxville and enjoyed his time there, he started at UT Law. During his second summer in law school, Lanquist worked for a patent firm in Knoxville. He liked the work and intellectual property law made sense to him. By the time graduation rolled around in 1988, Lanquist was ready to move on. After interviewing with firms all
over, he landed a job with Manier Herod in Nashville. When he started there, he initially did construction law, but one of the firm’s attorneys, Mark Patterson, wanted to develop an intellectual property practice group. Lanquist quickly joined him in doing IP work in addition to construction work. Lanquist took and passed the patent bar in 1989. By that time, IP work consumed Lanquist’s entire practice. By 1992, Patterson and Lanquist realized they were not getting any IP work referrals from other firms. They decided to branch off and start their own firm in hopes of getting said referrals. At that time, the new firm, Waddey Patterson, began. The strictly IP law firm continued to grow from 3 lawyers to the 16 lawyers they have now. After Waddey’s departure in 2014, the firm became its current iteration of Patterson Intellectual Property Law P.C. One of the principles at Patterson guided by Lanquist’s philosophy is that the practice of law is so good to them that they must give back to the community. As a result, all of Patterson’s lawyers take active roles in nonprofits and volunteering. Lanquist certainly leads by example. He has served on approximately 50 nonprofits during his time in Nashville. He currently serves as the board chair for Hands on Nashville and on the board of New Dialect, a contemporary dance practice. Lanquist focuses on local nonprofits whose mission he believes in as well as organizations that have the potential to grow. He believes in serving on a board but then rotating off within 4-6 years to prevent burnout and to allow new members.
In addition to nonprofits, Lanquist’s other passion is whiskey. With around 2,000 bottles, he believes he has one of the largest private collections of whiskey in Nashville. A caterer once told Lanquist that he has more whiskey than Brad Paisley. This love for whiskey has even led to a recurring NBA CLE taught by Lanquist that goes on the bourbon or the whiskey trail. In addition to being active on the CLE committee, Lanquist has long been involved in the NBA. He served as president in 2014 at a time when he was also the managing partner at his firm and co-chair of Leadership Nashville. His crowning achievement during his term as president was the hiring of Monica Mackie as executive director, a position she still holds. Lanquist also serves as a Trustee on the Nashville Bar Foundation Board. Most recently, Lanquist has been elected as Vice-President for the TBA, a position that will lead to him being President in 2024-25. Lanquist lives in the Regency Park neighborhood in Nashville. He has two adult children. His daughter, Lindsey, lives in East Nashville and works as a freelance writer for digital content. His son, Ash, lives in Maryland and works for an education tech company. n BART PICKETT is an attorney at the Law Offices of Julie Bhattacharya Peak where he represents Liberty Mutual Group, Inc.’s insureds and customers of its affiliated groups in litigation throughout Middle Tennessee.
JUNE/JULY 2022 | NASHVILLE BAR JOURNAL
11
