I'm not sure they are quite equivalent, the semantics of pattern matching tend to be different: in lisps lists are always a kind of binary tree so (list 1 2 3) is really (1 . (2 . (3 . nil))), this has a consequence for unification in that (list 1 2 3) will match (x y) as 1 and (list 2 3). In Mathematica on the other hand lists tend to be flatter if you will, and there is this concept of Sequence which I sometimes find problematic.