From 802 Terry Ave to the Halls of the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office: Patrick Lavin's Journey After High School

SEATTLE- Patrick Lavin’s path from a busy high school student at O’Dea to a leader within the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office is a story of resilience, mentorship, and purpose.

For Lavin, it began commuting by ferry to school every day, starting in his freshman year. He came to O’Dea with his best friends, who are still his best friends to this day. He worked hard, was involved in activities, and was busy all the time. He was curious and wanted to get everything he could out of the material being taught.

Coach Kohler had a huge influence on him more specifically about the importance of focusing on building a foundation of everything that you do.

 “The key thing, though, was the importance of doing what’s right.” Said Lavin

Lavin said that Mr. Walker (now Principal) had a big impact on him as well. He was his counselor at the time, and what started his thought process about going to Harvard was Mr. Walker.

 “That never crossed my mind before Mr. Walker had suggested it.” Said Lavin

Lavin liked the idea of political science and government in high school, and then when he got to college, he majored in it. He focused on the idea of natural rights and due process, while connecting government to it all.

There was a quote that he found later in life from Dolly Parton, stating, “find out who you are and do it on purpose.”

That quote now translates into his job today of supervising attorneys, and he tells them, “Try and figure out what you like doing, what makes you happy, and what makes you fulfilled, and slowly try and do more of that.”

It was shortly after college that he figured out that he wanted to be in public service. He then figured out what it meant to be a lawyer and that he liked the interactions between the government and law, and how everything worked.

Lavin was drawn to trial work, and then, within the field of the public policy section, that led d him into criminal prosecution in his first summer of law school.

After finishing law school, he went on to attempt the bar exam and came up short on his first attempt. That was a big challenge that he had to overcome in his life, especially right after getting out of law school. It was a requirement for what he wanted to do in life.

Lavin said, “That was really disappointing and hard, but in retrospect, there were other things in my life that were distracting me at the time that I thought I could just push through.”

Sometimes in life, you cannot always push through everything, and for Lavin, failing the bar exam the first time was a setback. He had to recenter himself and think about overcoming this obstacle. Lavin thought that the bar would be a scenario where he would work hard, check that box, and move on, but it was not. So that was a hard thing for him.

Lavin has gone on to have a successful career as King County Prosecuting Attorney, along with bringing increased revenue to the special assault unit and creating more jobs in that field. He has created the program Coaching Boys into Men, which teaches young athletes about respect and personal responsibility. He recently got inducted into the Wall of Honor here at O’Dea as a part of the 2025 class.

O’Dea provided him with that springboard base that gave him tools that he could use for the rest of his life.

Lavin says, “There is a special bond between the people at O’Dea, and how there is a trust between us, and that is a special and good feeling to know where you stand.”

If he had to say something to his younger self, he would say to “have balance in your life, but at the same time, he was working really hard and wouldn’t really want to do anything different.”