Patti Hageman, JD

Patti Hageman is an attorney who works at the intersection of strategic leadership and the law.  She joined the Cordell Institute in August 2020 to help lead its next phase of growth.  She leads the day-to-day operations and, along with the faculty directors, furthers the strategies and planning of the Institute.

Patti served as general counsel to the City of St. Louis for 13 years, leading the work of over 50 in-house lawyers and staff, as well as outside counsel, in representing the City during a time of regional growth, downtown revitalization, and neighborhood renewal. In that role Patti routinely strategized and handled high profile policy, transaction and complex litigation matters to the benefit of the City and its stakeholders, and provided day-to-day and strategic advice to officials, department heads, and managers.

Patti also directed the pro bono program of Legal Services of Eastern Missouri, where she created a continuing legal education program for pro bono attorneys in partnership with the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis. Under her leadership, the pro bono program instituted medical-legal clinics, expanded its sponsorship of other community legal clinics including new work in the area of expungements, introduced cultural competency training for pro bono attorneys, and added a social work component to pro bono representation.  Patti recently assisted the Missouri Department of Health’s Office of General Counsel as lead counsel in its role launching and defending the State’s nascent medical marijuana program. Patti started her legal career as a Staff Law Clerk for the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Patti has served on numerous professional and community boards and commissions, including being elected by her peers to the Missouri Bar Board of Governors.  She has served on the St. Louis Regional Arts Commission and board of Heat Up St. Louis; she is a past-president of the Women Lawyers’ Association of Greater St. Louis and the Franz Park Community Association.  She has served as a board trustee for the Forsyth School, a leading independent school in St. Louis, as well as for the Ladue Education Foundation.  Patti holds a J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis and a B.S. in Business Management from Bradley University, located in her hometown of Peoria, Illinois. Patti resides in the St. Louis area with her husband, two children and three dogs, and she is avid about yoga and hiking.