Alvin Bragg learned about the law and doing right from Manhattan Federal Judge Robert P. Patterson

Since early March, all the world has had its eyes on Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg. In that time, scrutiny has given way to intensifying attacks — even death threats. Despite the clamor and the vitriol, Alvin has modeled the best of the legal profession: a calm, unwavering, reasoned pursuit of justice without fear or favor.

That’s no surprise to us. Each of us, like Alvin, spent a year clerking for Manhattan Federal Judge Robert P. Patterson (RPP to his clerks). Patterson instilled in his clerks a strong sense of integrity and public service. This created a bond between us that has survived Patterson. We see in Alvin’s actions lessons he learned from the judge.

In the practice of law, a clerkship with a judge is a kind of apprenticeship — one or two years spent researching legal issues, crafting written opinions, and above all, trying to get to the right result. All of it happens under the guiding hand of a judge, and all of it happens with the approval of, and in the name of, the judge for whom you clerk. Each of us learned from Patterson while he sat on the federal bench in Manhattan. It’s how we know Alvin. Now, we see Alvin showing the world what RPP taught us all about how justice is done.

Patterson was a Reagan nominee, a Republican, a World War II veteran, a prosecutor, and a civil servant, who served as the president of the New York State Bar Association and of the New York Legal Aid Society. He loved this country and fought to see that justice was done in every single case before him. Patterson understood that seeking justice often meant calling the powerful to account. And, uncomfortable as it might sometimes be, he simply did what was right without consideration of the personal or political agendas of those around him.

That’s what we see Alvin doing right now. We see him making decisions based on careful consideration of the evidence and the law. Those who call into question his impartiality do so for their own reasons, for their own gain. But they also do so in ignorance of Alvin’s character and in ignorance of the virtues he learned from Patterson and the virtues he is displaying now.

It would be much easier for Alvin — personally, politically, professionally — if he had simply chosen not to prosecute former President Trump. He wouldn’t be the subject of this furor (let alone the racist emails and serious threats to his physical safety). But that’s not what RPP taught us.

Patterson was also quite humble and modest. Alvin is very much like him, and we know that he would be just as happy out of the spotlight. But Patterson taught us that when public service and the right answer are in front of you, you don’t hesitate to do public service and assert the right answer.

Patterson always emphasized that we should prize justice and the search for truth and accountability, irrespective of the outcome — and that is exactly what Alvin is doing now. RPP would be proud.

Barnette, Choi, Gilchrist, Levine, May, Nidiry, Northrup, Sherman, Thomas-Jensen and Walker are lawyers, law professors and legal experts who know Bragg through their shared experiences clerking for the Honorable Judge Robert P. Patterson.