Who are you, and what do you do? What do you like to do outside of work?

I am Patrick Emerson McCormick, a data privacy and cybersecurity attorney with a background in commercial litigation. I advise clients on all manner of regulatory compliance, data and security management, and preparations for all things that might go wrong in those areas. This is why my answers here could be interpreted as “terse.” I took a circuitous route to the law, first majoring in broadcast production, working at a news station, and pursuing a masters in filmmaking before dropping out to go to law school.

I live in the Sonoran Desert with my wife and three kids. We spend a lot of time enjoying the natural beauty, museums, and parks in Southern Arizona, on foot or on two wheels. I read a lot of literary fiction, with the occasional sci-fi thrown in. My wife and I are always crafting cocktails at home and have the stocked bar to prove it.

I’m in the nascent stages of setting up my own self-hosting system. I’ve enjoyed tinkering with Home Assistant and, as a data privacy attorney, want to move more of my digital interactions to something that’s more fun and less invasive. I’m also constantly tinkering with an idea for a word processor built for attorneys.

What hardware do you use?

Being an attorney with limited technical know-how, my hardware setup is pretty standard. The vast majority of my days are spent on my firm’s unremarkable Dell laptop. I have a personal laptop and an old (2012-ish?) Lenovo ThinkStation to which I gave new life and installed Mint. I plan on turning the desktop into our home server. Both work and home have dual monitors of whatever was provided or most cost-effective at the time.

At home, I use a Logitech vertical mouse, and at my office I have a Kensington trackball mouse, each positioned between the halves of its respective keyboard.

Growing up, my grandpa was a professional electrician, my dad a professionally trained carpenter, and my mom a professionally trained landscape architect, so I have more in the way of that kind of hardware than electronic hardware. I try to fix just about everything in our house that doesn’t require specialized tools, especially if it’s electrical. I’ll try the plumbing stuff, too, but I’m going to be grumpy about it the whole time.

And what software?

Again, not exciting. I spend the vast majority of my workdays in Chrome and MS Office products, especially Outlook and Word (hence, my desire to create a better word processor for attorneys).

At home, I use Home Assistant to slowly automate things around the house. I have enjoyed using WiiM to create a home sound system. And never Chrome.

I know a lot of people who answer these questions provide a whole catalogue of the things they need to do their job or their hobby, but if I gave any more detail here, it would put everyone to sleep.

What’s your keyboard setup like? Do you use a custom layout or custom keycaps?

I bought a ZSA Moonlander for my work office years ago and loved it so much that I bought another off of eBay for my home office. I’ve tried Red, Silver, and lubed Yellow switches, and have settled on the lubed yellows. They have enough resistance so as not to feel mealy, they’re smooth all the way through, and they’re quiet enough that the noise doesn’t seem to bother my family or colleagues.

I also have a Voyager. I’m so accustomed to my Moonlander layout now that using my laptop’s stock keyboard while traveling was slowing me down. On the Voyager, I have Blue switches, which are satisfying but prevent me from using it sometimes, like when I’m sharing a hotel room with my family (for example).

My keycaps are all stock. There are a lot of pretty keycap sets and keyboards out there, and I cannot become a collector.

My layout is what got me hooked on these keyboards. I’ve made 69 revisions to my Moonlander layout over the years. You can tour my full-board layout.

I’m trying to shrink the number of keys I use so that my layout between my Moonlander and Voyager is as close as possible, so I have a fork that will someday hopefully get down to 52 keys.

I use home row modifiers, with a slight modification, thanks to my brother-in-law, who makes his own keyboards.

What would be your dream setup?

I would love to set up my desk and chair to mount my board to my armrests, with a trackball near each hand. Or a standing desk where the entire desk rises. I also think a fingerprint reader in my keyboard, and a trackpoint near my index finger on each side, would be nice.

But really, I’m pretty happy with my setup. Everything is where I like it, nothing feels uncomfortable, and I never get any pains from extended use anymore.

Thanks to ZSA for making great keyboards, and for featuring me this week!