On November 15, the Law and Public Policy Program (LPP) at Catholic Law held a discussion looking at the results of the 2022 midterm elections with two plugged-in alumni. This was the third installment of LPP's lecture series this fall. Brian Svoboda, Director of LPP, introduced John Murphy III '07, Chief Policy Officer and Healthcare Counsel, Biotechnology Innovation Organization, and Mark Patterson '90, Senior Advisor, the Brunswick Group, to the students in attendance. The program was also sponsored by the American Constitution Society, the Democratic Law Students Association, and the Federalist Society.

The discussions looked at what drove voters to make the choices they did, what’s next for each political party, will the Republican party back Trump, will the Democratic party back Biden in 2024, and more. Following the discussion the floor was opened to students in attendance to ask questions.

John Murphy leads the legal and policy functions, both domestic and international, for all healthcare, agricultural, and environmental biotechnology advocacy across the organization. BIO’s policy and advocacy centers on developing and implementing legislative, regulatory, and international policies that foster a robust ecosystem for novel biotechnology development throughout the world. Biotech innovation focuses on the development of first-in-kind medicines to treat unmet medical needs, new climate technologies to address global climate change issues, and groundbreaking agricultural developments that seek to strengthen and expand the global food supply.

Mark Patterson is a lawyer and longtime U.S. Senate aide, Treasury Department official and policy expert with extensive experience in fiscal, tax, legal, financial services and other issues. Most recently, he was General Counsel to Senator Charles E. Schumer, the Senate Majority Leader. He previously served as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Department of Treasury during the first term of the Obama presidency. Earlier in his career, Mark was Policy Director to Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel of the Senate Finance Committee and Legislative Director to Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee.