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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. He has been a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association since 2004, where he currently sits 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. He is also a past President of the Board of Directors of Safe Harbor of Chester County, Inc., a shelter for single homeless men and women. 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.

Contact & Links
Location
  • 17 East Gay Street, Suite 100
    West Chester, PA 19381
Education
  • Widener University – Delaware Campus, J.D., graduated 2001
  • Saint Joseph's University, B.A., graduated 1997
Bar Admissions
  • Pennsylvania, 2001
Affiliations
  • Chester County History Center - Member, Board of Trustees
  • Chester County Bar Association - Member and past President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer
  • Pennsylvania Bar Association - Member
  • Pennsylvania Bar Association, House of Delegates - Zone 9 Delegate-at-Large
  • Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors, Solicitor Section - Member
  • Franklin Mint Federal Credit Union - Member, Board of Directors
  • Chester County Bar Association, Judicial Evaluation Committee - Past Chair
  • Chester County Bar Association, Young Lawyers Division - Past Chair
  • Chester County Bar Foundation - Past President
  • Greater West Chester Chamber of Commerce - Past member, Board of Directors
  • Pennsylvania Bar Association, Municipal Law Section Council - Past Chair
  • Safe Harbor of Chester County, Inc. - Past member, Board of Directors and past Board President
  • The Honorable John E. Stively, Jr. American Inn of Court - Past President
  • Leadership Chester County - 2007 Graduate
Court Admissions
  • U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 2003
  • U.S. Court of Appeals Third Circuit, 2003
  • U. S. Supreme Court, 2015

Gawthrop Greenwood, PC
Headquarters: West Chester, Pennsylvania

11 The Best Lawyers in America® awards

2 Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America awards

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Recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® 2025 for work in:
  • Land Use and Zoning Law
  • Municipal Law
Awards:
  • Super Lawyers Pennsylvania 2019 - 2023

  • Main Line Today Top Lawyers 2013, 2014, 2017 - 2023
    #1 in Municipal Law in 2022
  • Daily Local News Top Lawyers 2021 - 2023
  • Super Lawyers Pennsylvania "Rising Star" in Land Use/Zoning 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

Additional Areas of Practice:
  • Real Estate Law

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Patrick McKenna Receives Chester County Bar Association Awards for Service to Public and Legal Profession


Patrick McKenna Receives Chester County Bar Association Awards for Service to Public and Legal Profession

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Patrick M.

McKenna

The Role of Township Solicitors


As we see on the national level, the public is more involved today at public meetings than they have been in the past, and more vocal about the issues facing their communities.

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Patrick M.

McKenna

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