Overview
Pat Hughes is a strategic advisor, public policy advocate and regulatory attorney for insurance industry clients across all product lines and services. Clients turn to Pat when important regulatory and public policy matters in various arenas — including state and federal agencies, the NAIC, legislatures and international regulatory bodies — create challenges or opportunities for their businesses. Leading the insurance team’s regulatory and government affairs practice, he leverages a dynamic, multijurisdictional Faegre Drinker team that deploys proactive national and local regulatory and public policy strategies.
Pat is a former senior insurance regulator and state government attorney. As chief legal counsel to the Office of the Governor in Illinois, he oversaw regulatory affairs and directed legal representation for 45 executive branch agencies and several hundred attorneys and outside counsel. He also served as general counsel to the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, which then included the Division of Insurance; and as special deputy receiver and CEO with the Office of the Special Deputy, administering the receiverships of 47 companies. While with the state, Pat chaired NAIC working groups on critical issues, including Dodd-Frank implementation and complex receivership oversight.
Related Legal Services
Related Policy, Advocacy, and Consulting Services
Related Industries
Credentials
Bar Admissions
Illinois
District of Columbia
Court Admissions
Illinois Supreme Court
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois
Clerkships
U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Hon. James Alesia, 1993-1995
Education
DePaul University College of Law
J.D. with honors, Order of the Coif, DePaul Law Review (executive editor), Journal of Health and Hospital Law (case note editor) (1992)
Georgetown University
A.B. (1987)
Insights & Events
Latest
Insights
Events
Upcoming Events
Past Events
News
Other Perspectives
- Suitability, Best Interest and the Regulation of Investment Advice
ACLI Annual Conference, Washington, D.C., October 2018 - Recovery Planning: Context, Proposals and Perspectives
Stakeholder Event on Recovery Planning and Resolution, International Association of Insurance Supervisors, Basel, Switzerland, September 2018 - Observations on Creditor Hierarchy
Technical Workshop on Insurance Resolution, Insurance Cross-Border Crisis Management Group, Basel, Switzerland, September 2018 - Regulatory Update
Panelist, 2018 ACLI Life Insurance Conference - Impact of Federal Developments on State Insurance Regulation
2018 IAIR Insurance Workshop - Election 2016 Revisited
Panelist, 2017 ACLI Compliance and Legal Sections Annual Meeting - Election 2016 and Insurance Regulation
Panelist, 2016 ACLI Compliance & Legal Sections Annual Meeting - Fearless Predictions: Resolution Issues and a Covered Agreement Will Take Center Stage in 2016
Co-author with Charlie Richardson, NOLHGA Journal, Vol. XXII, No. 1, February 2016 - The Two Paths to Reinsurance Collateral Reform
Federation of Regulatory Counsel “Hot Topics” CLE Seminar, November 2015 - New ISDA Protocol and IRMA 711
Co-presenter, NAIC Receivership & Insolvency Task Force, November 2014 - Resolution Planning: New Developments and Insurance Implications for Living Wills
Co-presenter, International Association of Insurance Receivers, November 2014 - The Federal Reserve and U.S. Insurance Regulatory Perspective on Corporate Governance and Enterprise Risk Management
Panelist, NAIC Society of Financial Examiners Breakfast Series, November 2014 - Translating Lehman: Lessons Learned and Implications for Significant Insurance Receiverships
IAIR Technical Development Workshop, May 2013
Firm Blog Contributions
- LTCi Summit – a forum dedicated to a range of issues impacting the long-term care insurance community, including litigation, regulation and public policy
Leadership & Community
Pro Bono
- Secured political asylum for family of four from the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
- Represented abuse victim in child support collection efforts
Professional Associations
- Association of Insurance Compliance Professionals
- International Association of Insurance Receivers — Director
- District of Columbia Bar Association
- National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws — Past Commissioner
- Exchequer Club of Washington, D.C.
Civic Activities
- Chicago Debate Commission (not-for-profit promoting debate programs in urban high schools) — Past Board Chair and Director
- Georgetown University Alumni Admissions Program — Alumni Interviewer
- YMCA — Adventure Guides, Past Expedition Navigator
- Wilmette, Illinois — Past Village Trustee and Past Fire/Police Commissioners Board
- City Club of Chicago
Honors
- Chicago Debates — Make Room For Debate Honoree, 2022
- Chicago Debate Commission — Seymour Simon Award (recognizing extraordinary and lasting contributions to the Chicago Debate League), 2016