Patrick M. McKenna has extensive experience representing numerous municipalities, zoning hearing boards, municipal authorities, and planning commissions in Chester and Delaware Counties. In addition, he advises and guides private land owners and developers through complex commercial land development matters, from acquisition and planning, through the permitting and land development phases. He has represented clients on matters including townhome developments, senior care homes, national fast-food franchise developments, manufacturing plants and warehousing, and shopping center developments. Patrick also has extensive experience prosecuting and defending land use violations (enforcement cases) and matters under Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law, and has shared his knowledge at several seminars over the years.

Elected as Gawthrop’s youngest chair of the firm’s management committee from 2021-2023, Patrick received his Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Saint Joseph’s University. He received his law degree, cum laude from Widener University School of Law, where he was a Josiah Oliver Wolcott Fellow, serving as a law clerk to Delaware Supreme Court Justice Joseph T. Walsh. Prior to joining Gawthrop, he served as the law clerk to the Hon. Anthony A. Sarcione, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Chester County, and as an associate attorney in a regional insurance defense firm.

A member of the Chester County Bar Association since 2002, Patrick has served as President, Vice President, Treasurer and Secretary, as well as past Chair of the Young Lawyers Division and past Chair of the Judicial Evaluation Committee. He is also past President of the Chester County Bar Foundation and currently serves as Co-Chair of the CCBA Bench Bar Committee. He has been a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association since 2004, where he served as a Zone 9 Delegate At-Large to the PBA House of Delegates, and is past Chair of the PBA Municipal Law Section Council. In addition, he is a member of the Solicitor Section of the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors.

In the community, Patrick serves as a member of the Board of Trustees for the Chester County History Center and Board Member for the Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union as well as FMFCU Foundation. He is also a past President of the Board of Directors of Safe Harbor of Chester County, Inc., which provides emergency shelter and services to adults experiencing homelessness. In addition, he is a past President of the Hon. John E. Stively, Jr. American Inn of Court, a 2007 graduate of Leadership Chester County, an Assistant Editor to the Chester County Legal Reporter, and a past member of the Board of Directors of the Greater West Chester Chamber of Commerce. Patrick has been named to Super Lawyers since 2019 and The Best Lawyers in America^® since 2018.

COURT ADMISSIONS

• Pennsylvania, 2001
• U.S. District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 2003
• U.S. Court of Appeals Third Circuit, 2003
• Supreme Court of the United States, 2015

EDUCATION

• Widener University School of Law, Wilmington, Delaware, J.D., cum laude, 2001
• Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, B.A., History, 1997

MEMBERSHIPS & SERVICE

• Chester County History Center, Board of Trustees
• Chester County Bar Association, Bench Bar Committee Co-Chair
• Chester County Bar Foundation, former President
• Chester County Bar Association, Board Member and former President
• Pennsylvania Bar Association, Zone 9 Delegate At-Large to PBA
• Pennsylvania Bar Association, Former Chair of the Municipal Law Section Council
• Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors, Solicitor Section
• Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union (FMFCU), board member
• FMFCU Foundation, board member
• Greater West Chester Chamber of Commerce, past member Board of Directors
• Safe Harbor of Chester County, Past President of Board of Directors
• Hon. John E. Stively, Jr. American Inn of Court, Past President
• Leadership Chester County, Graduate

ADDITIONAL DISTINCTIONS

• Super Lawyers, 2019-present
• The Best Lawyers in America^®, 2018-present
• Top Lawyers, Main Line Today, 2013, 2014, 2017-present
• Top Lawyers, Daily Local News, 2021-present, Readers Choice Awards
• “Pennsylvania Rising Star” by Philadelphia Magazine and Law & Politics Magazine, 2007, 2008, 2011-2015
• Chester County Bar Association, Young Lawyers Division, Public Service Award, 2007
• Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania, Chester County Division, Certificate of Appreciation, 2005