In-beam measurements of nanosecond lifetimes have been undertaken for some of the excited states in near-spherical nuclei ^142,143 Pm using the pulsed-beam γ coincidence technique and the generalized centroid-shift method of analysis. The ¹³³Cs (¹³C,xn) reaction with a 60 MeV pulsed beam of ¹³C was used to populate the excited states in the respective nuclei. The measured mean lifetimes have been compared with correspond-ing single-particle estimates.