Bench & Bar March/April 2026

PRESIDENT'S PAGE

The

BY TODD V. MCMURTRY

Game

I want to tell you about my friend, Patrick Heringer, 1 whose phi losophy of life has caused me to think more carefully about my own and yours. But first, you need to know that Patrick was brutally murdered in Cincinnati by a home intruder in the early morning hours of June 4, 2025. He and his wife Sarah were good friends of mine and my wife, Cari. I learned about this tragedy during last year’s annual convention. Cari called me off the convention stage with urgent gestures. We walked out of the convention hall and she told me. I nearly collapsed. His murder sent shock waves across Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. At the time, beyond my personal affection for Patrick, I did not fully appreciate why the death of one man could be so significant. After his death, Sarah wrote something to describe how Patrick lived. He called it "The Long Game." Patrick’s philosophy of life explains the profound impact his life and death had on so many people. While Patrick’s words and philosophy applied to him and many, they apply in a unique way to lawyers. We are a part of a profession that is the foundation of our nation and society. Our constitutional oath imparts upon each of us a special obligation to be honest and diligent in how we practice law. Sarah wrote that her husband "never did anything only for the moment he was standing in." He was, she says, deeply present in life. But for Patrick, presence was never sep arate from the future. "In his mind, the two were inseparable. Being fully in the moment was how you build the long game." Because the law and lawyers have a special relationship with our society, we can benefit from some of Patrick’s wisdom. I have been a trial lawyer for 35 years. In that time, I have watched colleagues rise and fall, build and squander, leave legacies and leave wreckage. And what I have come to believe, and what Patrick's life confirmed for me in a way I did not expect, is that the law, when practiced with skill and intentionality, is a long game profession. The problem is that too few of us treat it that way.

Patrick Heringer May 2, 1979 - June 4, 2025

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march/april 2026