Patrick J. Urda

Urda received his Bachelor of Arts degree in classics, summa cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame, where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. He received his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School.

At the start of his legal career, Urda spent three years in private practice and served as a law clerk to Judge Daniel A. Manion of the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit.

Department of Justice career

In his current position as counsel to the Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the United States Department of Justice's Tax Division, Urda advises the Deputy Assistant Attorney General and Tax Division front office on legal and administrative issues facing the Division, particularly regarding appellate and settlement matters. In addition to acting as counsel, he is a member of the Tax Division's Appellate Section, which he joined in 2006.

While working in the Appellate Section, he has litigated more than eighty appeals from the United States Tax Court and the United States District Courts and has presented oral argument on behalf of the United States in more than forty-five appeals, including arguments in each of the United States Courts of Appeals. He was also one of the principal drafters of the United States’ successful brief in Hall v. United States, 566 U.S. 506 (2012).

Urda is a five-time recipient of the Tax Division's Outstanding Attorney Award, and has received the IRS's Mitchell Rogovin Award.

On August 3, 2017, President Trump nominated Urda to serve as a Judge of the United States Tax Court, to the seat vacated by Judge Diane Kroupa, who retired on June 16, 2014. His nomination is currently pending before the Senate Finance Committee.