Partner
Patricia J. Paoletta
Education
Georgetown University Law Center, J.D.
Boston College, B.A., summa cum laude
Patricia (Tricia) Paoletta focuses her practice on digital infrastructure, trade and technology policy.
Recognized in Best Lawyers, Tricia provides advice on regulatory, trade and legislative policy to clients before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Congress and the Administration. Her clients include providers of digital infrastructure, including mobile broadband, satellite, cloud, submarine cable and drones. She advises providers of broadband services on regulatory compliance and policy issues facing emerging technology, like Artificial Intelligence or A.I.
Tricia has accrued considerable experience with digital infrastructure trade and policy in the public sector. She was senior advisor to the FCC’s International Bureau Chief and Office Director. Patricia 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 both multilateral and bilateral agreements impacting digital trade. After USTR, Patricia served as Majority Counsel to the House Energy and Commerce Committee. She then moved to a leading digital infrastructure provider, as Vice President, Government Relations.
Tricia served as chair of the FCC’s Advisory Committee for the 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-23). She has served as a delegate to numerous meetings at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU); including WRC-23 and CITEL (the Committee on International Telecommunications at the Organization of American States) PCC-II. Tricia 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.
Tricia is on the Pacific Telecommunications Council’s Advisory Council. She is also a member of the USTR Alumni Association, Washington International Trade Association, the Federal Communications Bar Association (FCBA), Women’s Foreign Policy Group, and Women in Technology. Tricia 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.
Tricia 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 FCBA’s Committees.
Read More+Education
Georgetown University Law Center, J.D.
Boston College, B.A., summa cum laude