Pat Donahue

I am originally from Keene, New Hampshire- the ‘Live Free or Die State.’

I moved to Spokane in 2011 and we immediately fell in love with Eastern Washington and I am proud to call Spokane myhome.

I am an avid outdoorsman, and enjoy taking full advantage of all the Inland Northwest has to offer. When I am not in the office, I will most likely be found rock climbing, listening to live music, or skiing in the mountains. I find that spending as much time as possible in nature helps me stay sharp in the office and in the courtroom. A close friend of mine once described her time in the woods as an opportunity to ‘iron out’ her mind- I couldn’t agree more.

Outside of the classrooms of Gonzaga, my legal career began during the late summer and fall of 2013. During that time, I practiced as Rule 9 Licensed Legal Intern under the Spokane County Public Defender's Office. As a licensed intern, I represented clients in Spokane County's Drug Court. Spokane County's drug court was one of the first drug courts in the county. I truly loved my time with this program and remain inspired by the help drug courts afford suffering individuals.

In September of 2013, I was selected to spend a month at Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyers College as an intern. While interning at TLC, I was afforded the opportunity to study trial law with some of the nation’s top trial lawyers. It was an unforgettable experience that taught me more about courtroom advocacy than I could have ever learned elsewhere.

In the winter and spring of 2013-2014, I carried a full misdemeanor caseload for the Spokane County Public Defenders. I thoroughly enjoyed fighting for those unable to afford private representation in the trenches of our legal system.

I sat for the bar exam in Washington State in the Summer of 2014 and was admitted to the Washington State Bar that September. Unfortunately, at that time the County Public Defender's office was not hiring. Fortunately, I was able to find work with a small Spokane law firm representing injured people against insurance companies.

Eager to get back to full time criminal defense work, In early 2016 I followed my passion for defense work and set out on my own by founding Donahue Law.

In the summer of 2016 I returned to the Trial Lawyers College for their Graduate Program. This program was an intensive two week course that allowed me to hone my skills and help me prepare to defend Ms. Donna Perry. Ms. Perry was charged with three counts of premeditated murder. A mentor and I took Ms. Perry's case to jury trial in the summer of 2017.

In 2018 I was awarded the Judy Clarke Scholarship to Attend the National Criminal Defense College’s 2 week program in Georgia. This program significantly strengthened my skills as a litigator by helping me build on the trial tools I had developed both in and out of the courtroom.

Beginning in late 2019, I became an outspoken advocate for the legalization/decriminalization of psychedelics and began volunteering for state and local political movements. While my anti-drug war roots run deep, my willingness to come out of the psychedelic closet in a more public way was motivated by my lived experiences as well as my long standing belief in the therapeutic value of molecules such as psilocybin, MDMA, LSD, DMT, and mescaline.

In early 2021, I became one of the initial members of the Psychedelic Bar Association (PBA). The PBA is an association of accomplished attorneys dedicated to solving the novel legal and policy issues impacting the emerging psychedelics sector. I am a proud member of the PBA with the bulk of my time there spent sitting on the PBA’s Legalization and Regulation Committee.

On April 19, 2022 I founded Terrapin Legal. Terrapin Legal is a Spokane based law firm and only represents clients in the emerging legal psychedelic ecosystem. As Buckministe Fuller is credited with saying- "You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

Metta-

-Pat Donahue