Steve practiced corporate litigation before moving to Washington, DC to join the US Foreign Service in 1979. He had a distinguished 28-year career with the State Department, during which he served as a consular officer and manager in overseas postings in Beirut, Colombo, Bangkok, Bucharest, Brussels, and Berlin, and in Washington in the Visa Office and the Bureaus of Near Eastern and Inter-American Affairs. Steve retired in 2007 as a member of the Senior Foreign Service from his final posting as Minister-Counselor for Consular Affairs in Berlin and relocated to London to practice US immigration law.

Steve returned to private practice in Washington, DC in 2010, dedicating his time to complex US business immigration law.

Steve is a highly sought-after speaker at national and international conferences on a wide range of topics related to consular processing, business immigration, inadmissibility waivers, and citizenship and passport law and regulations.

Relevant Experience

• Advises law practices and individual attorneys on how to interact effectively with State Department personnel and develop and implement strategies that maximize visa issuances for their clients.
• Assists individual investors and businesses seeking to establish and grow businesses in the US and move key personnel to their US offices.
• Counsels corporate and individual clients on business immigration, consular processing, and individual immigration matters.
• Strategic Consultant on complex consular processing cases for corporations, attorneys, and individual clients.

Education
BA, Southern Methodist University, 1975

• On the Record with Stephen Pattison: From Consul to Counsel, profile in Immigration Law Today, magazine of AILA
• 99 State Ten Years On—Is the Relationship between Consular Officers and Immigration Attorneys Advancing the Visa Application Process?, AILA Immigration and Nationality Law Handbook, 2009 Edition
• Unpacking the DS 160 and DS 260 Forms--Tips for Consular Processing Practices, Consular Processing Handbook
• Consular Red Flags in E and L Visa Adjudications, Practice Pointer for AILA’s Business Immigration Response Team
• The National Visa Center and the Kentucky Consular Center, Consular Processing Handbook, 3rd. edition
• Immigration Reform and the Obama Administration, The In-House Lawyer
• US Immigration Reform Derailed in Senate, The In-House Lawyer
• Behind the Window—How Consular Processing Really Works, Immigration Briefings, Thomson Reuters
• Consular Processing in India, AILA’s Consular Processing Handbook, Spring 2012 edition
• The Curious Case of the E Visa, Immigration Briefings, Thomson Reuters
• Beyond the Zero-Sum Game: Toward More Cooperative Consul/Counsel Relations, The American Immigration Lawyer’s Association Visa Processing Guide and Consular Posts Handbook, 2008 edition