Patti Waldmeir writes a column about US law and society, focusing mostly on intellectual property and employment law and other legal topics of interest to the business and general reader. Patti has been a columnist since 1997. Before that she was US editor of the FT, based in Washington DC.

Before coming to Washington, Patti worked extensively in Africa, covering the transition to democracy in South Africa as Johannesburg bureau chief from 1989 to 1996. She wrote a book about the South African transition, Anatomy of a Miracle, which won several prizes. Since she joined the FT in 1981 she has also worked as a Lex columnist.

Patti lives in the suburbs of Washington DC with her two small daughters. Her column appears every Wednesday.

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