Harris-Pearson, Colleen A.

Mrs. Harris is an associate at the firm and concentrates her practice in the areas of estate planning and estate settlement, small business transactions, and real estate matters, as well as assisting in civil litigation.

She is a member of the Westmoreland County Bar Association and the Pennsylvania Bar Association and is an active participant in the local Orphans Court committee.  Mrs. Harris also currently serves on the Executive Board of the Ned J. Nakles American Inns of Court as its President. 

Mrs. Harris has previously served on the boards of ARC Westmoreland and the Sewickley Creek Watershed Association and currently serves as President of the Advisory Council at Clelian Heights School for Exceptional Children.

Mrs. Harris is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, School of Law, where she ranked first in her graduating class, and where she served as Senior Articles Editor on the Executive Board of Law Review.  During her law school tenure, Mrs. Harris also received awards in legal research, estate law, family law, and trial advocacy.

Prior to attending law school, Mrs. Harris spent twenty five years as a civilian contractor to the United States Department of Energy, supporting research for the United States Nuclear Navy.  She holds a Masters degree in Radiation Health and was previously a diplomat of the American Board of Health Physics.  In 1992, Mrs. Harris became the first woman manager ever appointed to the executive level at the facility, with overall responsibility for radiological, industrial, and environmental compliance for over twelve hundred employees. 

Mrs. Harris chose to change careers in midlife in order to participate, on a personal level, in the legal process -- believing that each individual client is entitled to competent, fair, and reasonable legal assistance in achieving his or her life goals. 

Mrs. Harris has been married to her husband, Jim, for over 35 years.