Mr. Harkness’ practice focuses on litigation.

Mr. Harkness is an experienced litigator with a deep background in securities, professional liability, commercial and white collar criminal litigation. He specializes in factually complex financial cases. His extensive litigation experience includes:

• Acting as counsel for prominent, international financial service firms in hedge-fund related litigation, securities fraud cases, and commercial disputes. See in re Parmalat Securities Litigation, 2007 WL 2263893 (S.D.N.Y. 2007); In re Parmalat Securities Litigation, 477 F. Supp. 2d 602 (S.D.N.Y. 2007); In re Recoton Corp. Securities Litigation, 358 F. Supp. 2d 1130 (M.D. Fla. 2005); and Cromer v. Berger, 137 F. Supp. 2d 452 (S.D.N.Y. 2001);
• Representing a defendant in the Enron scandal before the Securities Exchange Commission, in the bankruptcy court, with civil litigants, as part of a criminal trial, and in the media;
• Conducting internal investigations for clients in the United States and overseas;
• Representing individuals and businesses in Congressional and grand jury investigations;
• Successfully defending individuals being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission for securities fraud;
• Providing counsel to manufacturers and financial institutions on regulatory matters concerning compliance and disclosure issues and drafting regulatory submissions on behalf of these clients;
• Developing a comprehensive strategy on trial issues for international toxic tort litigation and acting as international coordinating counsel on those issues;
• Representing a major telephone service provider in a fraud action involving complex engineering and telecommunications issues. Statistical Phone Philly v. NYNEX, 116 F. Supp. 2d 468 (S.D.N.Y. 2000), aff’d 2001 WL 7999009 (2d Cir. Jul. 16, 2001); and
• Conducting investigations and civil discovery in a variety of foreign jurisdictions, including: Argentina, Brazil, The Cayman Islands, China, Malta, The Netherlands Antilles, The Netherlands and South Africa.

Prior to attending law school, Mr. Harkness had a career in international public relations. As part of his law practice, Mr. Harkness has continued assisting clients with their media relations, helping manufacturing and financial services firms devise media strategies,coordinate litigation and public relations needs, and interact with reporters. Mr. Harkness is also a member of the firm's Women's Initiative Committee.


Representative Cases

• United States v. Arthur Andersen —represented auditor in Enron matter and participated on trial team
• State of New York v. Grasso, et al.—represents former chairman of NYSE compensation committee in action brought by the New York State Attorney General

J.D., cum laude, University of Michigan Law School, 1995

• Executive Editor, University of Michigan Law Review
• Book Award Recipient, Negotiation and Drafting

B.A., cum laude, Yale University, 1987

Honorable Carol Bagley Amon U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York

New York, 1997
Connecticut, 1995

U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, 1999