Patricia J. Paoletta

Patricia Paoletta is a partner with the law firm of Harris, Wiltshire & Grannis LLP, where she focuses on telecommunications, trade and technology policy.  Ms. Paoletta provides advice on regulatory, trade and legislative policy to clients before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Administration.  Her clients include providers of mobile broadband, satellite, and Internet of Things (IoT), including drones, SUAS and high-altitude, and connected cars, VoIP, submarine cable and other international telecommunications.

Ms. Paoletta has accrued considerable experience with telecommunications trade and policy in the public sector. She was senior advisor to the International Bureau Chief and Office Director at the Federal Communications Commission.  Ms. Paoletta subsequently served as Director of Telecommunications Trade Policy in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, Executive Office of the President, where she worked on the WTO Information Technology Agreement (ITA) and the Basic Telecommunications Agreement, NAFTA implementation, and bilateral agreements with China, the European Union, Japan, and South Korea. After USTR, Ms. Paoletta served as Majority Counsel to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. She then moved to Level 3 Communications, as Vice President, Government Relations.

Ms. Paoletta is Chair of the Pacific Telecommunications Council’s Innovations Awards Committee. She is also Co-Chair of the D.C. Bar International Law Section’s Global Telecommunications and Technology Law Committee. Ms. Paoletta is also a member of the USTR Alumni Association, Washington International Trade Association, the Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA), and Women in Technology.  Ms. Paoletta has been on the Board of Advisors for the Inter-American Dialogue’s Latin America Telecom Advisor, Co-Chair of the American Bar Association International Communications Committee, and served as a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Technology Policy Committee. She was also on the Steering Committee of the Transatlantic Roundtable on Telecommunications and Information Technology of the European Institute.

Ms. Paoletta has secured licenses for several international providers, negotiating with the various security agencies to obtain mutually-agreeable entry conditions, and provides regulatory and compliance advice to those licensees, as well as to VoIP providers.  She represents the wireless trade association 5G Americas and has advocated for the association on mobile broadband in proceedings before the FCC. She has served as a delegate to numerous meetings at the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and CITEL (the Committee on International Telecommunications at the Organization of American States) PCC-II. Ms. Paoletta has served as the Chair of the FCC’s National Reliability and Interoperability Council (NRIC) Steering Committee and as a Board Member for the Voice on the Net Coalition.  She has had multiple leadership roles in the Federal Communications Bar Association, including as Co-Chair of the FCBA’s Annual Seminar Committee; as a member of the FCBA’s Ad Hoc Speakers Committee; as Co-Chair for the FCBA International Practice Committee; and as a Co-Chair of the FCBA Legislative Practice Committee and serves as a panelist occasionally for those Committees.