Directory

Vipal J. Patel

Adjunct Professor of Law

Adjunct

School of Law

Profile

Vipal J. Patel is a partner with the law firm of Squire Patton Boggs, resident in its Columbus, Ohio, office. He is a former federal prosecutor and in 2022 was the acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, which includes Dayton, Columbus, Cincinnati, and rest of the southern half of the state. He previously served as the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Ohio’s First Assistant U.S. Attorney, as its Criminal Chief, and as a Deputy Criminal Chief. Patel has taught as an Adjunct Professor at UD Law since 2008.

Patel received his law degree in 1991 from the George Washington University Law School, after which he joined a civil litigation firm in Los Angeles. He made partner in 1999, with the law firm of Hancock Rothert & Bunshoft LLP (which subsequently merged into Duane Morris LLP), handling commercial and insurance litigation. While with the firm, Patel volunteered periodically as a small claims and traffic judge and took a one-month leave of absence to serve as a volunteer city criminal prosecutor. In 2000, Patel joined the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles as an Assistant United States Attorney, prosecuting both civil fraud and criminal matters. In 2005, he returned to his hometown, transferring to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Dayton, where he has prosecuted a wide variety of criminal and appellate matters. Recent cases of interest in which Patel was the lead prosecutor include:

• United States v. Laith Waleed Alebbini, 979 F.3d 537 (6th Cir. 2020) (Jordanian national residing in Dayton convicted of attempting to join ISIS following first ever international terrorism trial in the Southern District of Ohio; defendant sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment; affirmed on appeal);
• United States v. Ethan Kollie, United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio Case No. 3:19-cr-169 (only criminal charges--gun charges against a friend of the shooter--to arise from the August 4, 2019 Dayton shooting; defendant convicted and sentenced to 32 months’ imprisonment);
• United States v. Robert Jones, No. 18-3743, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 19503 (6th Cir. June 27, 2019) (child exploitation case involving sexual acts against an infant and toddler and exploitation of teen girls; defendant convicted and sentenced as a discretionary matter to life plus 10 years’ imprisonment, one of few discretionary life sentences handed down in the Southern District of Ohio; use of high tech "network investigative technique" to identify defendant on "dark web" and life+10 sentence upheld on appeal).

In 2011, Patel took a leave of absence from UD Law to serve a one-year anti-corruption and counter-narcotics Rule of Law assignment in Afghanistan, working as a civilian United States DOJ advisor to the Afghan Ministry of Justice, Judiciary and other governmental and educational institutions. In March 2015, Patel taught a one-week anti-money laundering course in the Republic of Georgia, as part of the Department of Justice’s Overseas Prosecutorial Development, Assistance, and Training program, and he taught periodically at DOJ’s National Advocacy Center, in Columbia, SC.

In 2022, Patel received an Attorney General’s Award—DOJ’s highest award--for Outstanding Work in Furthering the Interests of U.S. National Security, in recognition of his role in the investigation and response to the August 2019 domestic terrorist attack in Dayton, Ohio. The award recognized the team of prosecutors, investigators, and support personnel, led by Patel, that conducted the federal investigation following the mass shooting in Dayton’s Oregon District on August 4, 2019, and that successfully prosecuted an individual who illegally acquired and possessed various firearms and who had supplied certain equipment used by the mass shooter in the shooting.  Nine people were killed, and 27 others injured before Dayton police fatally shot the shooter. Federal and local law enforcement agencies worked tirelessly in the hours and weeks after the shooting to determine whether the shooter acted alone, how he acquired the weapons, and his motive, through hundreds of warrants, subpoenas, and interviews. They also gathered and analyzed forensic, electronic, and physical evidence.

While at DOJ, Patel was called upon to serve as an evaluator of other United States Attorney’s Offices throughout the country. He was also asked by the court to serve on various U.S. Magistrate Judge selection and renewal committees. He left government service in 2022, joining Squire Patton Boggs’ Litigation and White Collar & Government Investigations practice groups.

Locally, Patel is member of the Board of Directors of the Columbus Chapter of the Federal Bar Association, having previously served as the President, Vice-President, Secretary, and Treasurer of the Dayton Chapter of the FBA. Patel has also been involved with the Boonshoft Museum of Discovery in Dayton, previously serving on its Board of Trustees and on its Associate Board, including as President. He enjoys coaching youth soccer in his spare time, having coached for a decade with the Oakwood United Soccer Club. He is currently the Head Coach of the Dayton Kroc Soccer Club’s boys 2010 team, part of a new soccer club Patel co-founded with a friend, in partnership with the Salvation Army’s Kroc Center in Dayton, all in an effort to bring affordable and competitive youth club soccer and athletic options to, and serve the needs of, Dayton’s urban core.

Patel immigrated to the United States with his parents in 1970 (his father obtained two master’s degrees from UD) and became a naturalized citizen in 1981. He and his wife are proud supporters of and residents of downtown Dayton. And, given that they’ve been lifelong UD Flyers fans, you will often see them at UD arena on game day!