Patti Harris

Personal Introduction

Patti Harris, Special Counsel at Zetlin & De Chiara LLP, provides legal and business counsel to architects and engineers across the country. A serial entrepreneur, Ms. Harris is the founder and CEO of Licensesure, which provides business and licensing compliance services to design professionals. From 2000 to 2013, Patti served as the Managing Partner of Zetlin and De Chiara. Ms. Harris started her career as a corporate attorney with two New York City law firms and her legal practice focuses on mergers and acquisitions, business organization and management issues, and licensing issues. Ms. Harris is very active in design industry organizations. She is a member of the Board of Directors and President-Elect of the Global Design Alliance. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation, having served as Board Chair in 2015. In 2012, she served on the Mayor's Task Force for Rebuilding New York City. She speaks and writes about business organization and professional licensing to industry organizations such as the AIA and ACEC. Ms. Harris has been recognized for her leadership by the Global Design Alliance which presented her with their Sutherland Award for service to the design industry. She is recognized in Super Lawyers' list of top rated attorneys. In 2024, Ms. Harris was selected to City & State New York’s 2024 “Fifty Over 50 – The Age Disruptors” list. This annual list honors some of the most accomplished individuals in New York who have achieved success and, as part of that, made New York City a better place.