Patrick J. Benca

Managing Attorney, Criminal & Appellate Divisions

I’m Patrick, the Managing Attorney of the Criminal Defense Division of Lion Legal. I’m a trial attorney first and foremost. I know my way around a courtroom and a jury better than the average lawyer. There is absolutely nothing I love more (or do better) than trying cases.

At Lion, we handle criminal defense at the trial level in both state and federal courts, including capital (and other violent) cases, drug and sex crimes, white collar crimes, and post-conviction matters including ineffective assistance of counsel petitions, habeas petitions, pardon applications, and petitions to be removed from the sex offender registry.

In addition to the title of “trial attorney”, I am an established appellate attorney. As you’d probably guess, much of my appellate work is in the criminal arena. I have been successful in the Arkansas Court of Appeals, the Arkansas Supreme Court, and the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. I rely on my research and brief writing skills in and out of the courtroom.

My career spans more than twenty five years in criminal defense. Some of my highlights include the representation of Damien Echols and Tim Howard, and having their cases overturned. They were both freed from Arkansas’ death row in 2011 and 2017, respectively. I am continually chosen as a SuperLawyer, and the best Criminal Defense Attorney in the Arkansas Times. No legal matter could be in better hands than a team of trial-hardened Lion lawyers.

As is true with many lawyers, I don’t have any stereotypical hobbies. My hobbies and interests are… my work. My zealousness comes from a place of doing the right thing. We are winners and we like to win – it’s in our DNA. Every attorney at Lion has that competitive streak in spades.

I’m committed. I became part of Damien Echols defense team in 2010. He was released the following year in 2011, but the work didn’t end. We filed a petition for new DNA testing utilizing state-of-art technology to retest items that we believe will reveal the identity of those truly responsible. The Arkansas Supreme Court ordered that the testing take place. We are now waiting for the testing to proceed so the West Memphis Three can be finally vindicated and justice served.

I am relatively new to Lion Legal, but as you can see here, I’m not new to the practice of law. As with all great life decisions, merging my practice with Lion was an unanticipated but delightful development and I’ve never appreciated a happy fluke more! The team approach at Lion allows me – all of us – to focus our time and energy on our clients and cases and that makes us all better lawyers, allows us to get better results, and creates very happy, satisfied, well-informed clients. It’s a win all-around.

While Criminal Defense and appellate work are my primary areas these days, I have extensive experience, talent and success in domestic relations (both personal and professional), and civil litigation. Trial skills are trial skills–whether it’s civil or criminal, and I’m more than happy to put those skills to work for our clients, no matter the subject of the lawsuit.

It’s true I don’t have any hobbies, but I do have a life outside of the law: my children and my cats.

My email is [email protected].