Patrick Norris is a partner in the Charleston office of GRSM. His practice focuses primarily on professional liability defense, design/construction litigation and general liability/personal injury defense.  Patrick also provides non-litigation support to his design professional and contractor clients, including contract drafting and review, navigation of subpoenas, and legal advice related to emerging industry issues.  

Patrick is a frequent speaker at seminars and conferences, including events for The Claims and Litigation Management Alliance (CLM), American Institute of Architects (AIA), and local/regional trade organizations.

Patrick was selected as one of the Super Lawyers Rising Stars® in South Carolina from 2016 to 2019–a peer-nominated award for no more than 2.5% of attorneys in each state. He has been honored as one of the top construction attorneys in the area by Charleston Business Magazine’s “Legal Elite” Feature, another peer-nominated award.

Patrick graduated cum laude from Clemson University (Financial Management) and summa cum laude from Charleston School of Law.  He is a graduate of CLM’s three-year Claims College program in the School of Construction Claims and earned his Certified Claims Professional (CCP) designation.

Patrick grew up in coastal South Carolina and has been in Charleston for the past 25 years.  In his spare time, he enjoys writing/playing music, supporting his beloved Clemson Tigers, and spending time in the Blue Ridge mountains.

Admissions

• South Carolina

Representative Experience

• Obtained summary judgment for a subcontractor client in a construction defect action just weeks before trial, on the grounds that the Plaintiff’s claims were time-barred by the 13-year statute of repose. Successfully argued that there was no admissible evidence of gross negligence in the record after four years of discovery. Consequently, the gross negligence exception to the statute of repose was deemed unavailable to the Plaintiff, despite the Plaintiff’s efforts to create a material issue of fact with a last-minute affidavit from its expert, who opined that the contractor had been grossly negligent.
• Obtained a critical dismissal of claims against the firm's client, a custom residential builder in South Carolina. (February 2024)
• 3 Chisolm Street Homeowners Association, Inc. v. Chisolm Street Partners, LLC, 2014-UP-128 (S.C. Ct. App. Mar. 26, 2014)
• Segars v. Ocean Estate Builders, et al. – Beaufort County, SC - Order Granting Summary Judgment (2013)
• Long v. Trident Real Estate, et al. – Dorchester County, SC - Order Granting Motion to Dismiss (2023)
• Obtained summary judgment for civil engineering firm

Presentations

• Running Up That (Persimmon) Hill: Elevated Claims Handling Perspectives Through the Lens of South Carolina's Watershed Portrait Homes Decision – Claims & Litigation Management Alliance (“CLM”) – Construction Conference Panel -- Huntington Beach, CA (2024)
• The Mediation Metaverse: Marvels in Claim Resolution! – Claims & Litigation Management Alliance(“CLM”)  – Annual Conference Panel (2023)
• Dissecting, Evaluating and Resolving Construction Disasters - Claims & Litigation Management Alliance(“CLM”)  – Annual Conference Panel (2022)
• Claims Against Design Professionals - NC/SC Joint Construction Law Conference – Speaker/Panel (2022)
• AIA Charleston A.R.E. Seminar on Contract Documents – Speaker (2014)