Harrison, James W.

Pat Harris is one of the firm's primary trial lawyers, specializing in both felony criminal trials and major civil litigation, including civil rights' violations, wrongful death actions, and malicious prosecution cases. His trial successes in the past year alone have included three jury verdicts in excess of $2.5 million, as well as serving as co-counsel with Mark Geragos on a case in Santa Clara County that resulted in their client receiving a verdict of over $37 million against the pharmaceutical company, Pfizer.

Over the course of his thirteen years practicing law at Geragos & Geragos, Mr. Harris has also served as co-counsel with Mark Geragos on numerous other high-profile matters, including the cases of Susan McDougal, Scott Peterson, Michael Jackson, and Barry Bonds' trainer, Greg Anderson. Working on the Susan McDougal case led Mr. Harris to write a book entitled Susan McDougal: The Woman Who Wouldn't Talk. The book spent four weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, and was praised by the New York Times book review as being "moving and compelling, composed... with dignity and compassion." Former President Bill Clinton wrote, "Every American who loves our Constitution... should read this book."

Mr. Harris was born in Clarksville, Arkansas. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Arkansas, where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa and was a state finalist for a Rhodes Scholarship.

Before attending law school, Mr. Harris started his career as one of two legislative assistants for former Arkansas Congressman Bill Alexander (D-AR) in Washington, D.C. After leaving D.C., he served for a number of years as Vice President of Real Estate Development for Madison Financial Corporation in Little Rock, Arkansas. Mr. Harris grew proficient in the financial aspect of real estate development while acting as a liaison between the financial organization and the development corporation for several real estate projects.

After working for a number of years, Mr. Harris went to law school and earned his Juris Doctorate from the University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He began his legal career in the Davidson County Public Defender's Office in Nashville, Tennessee, before moving to California and beginning work with Geragos & Geragos in 1997, where he focused his practice on criminal law.

His numerous victories include successfully representing a high school principal charged criminally with hate crimes, and then winning a countersuit on the principal's behalf for malicious prosecution for $600,000. Since 2008, Mr. Harris has begun trying cases in civil court with great success. In January of 2009, he won a $1.3 million jury trial verdict for a client who had been falsely accused of murder. He followed up on that triumph with a $1.2 million jury trial verdict against a truck hauling company and the City of Los Angeles for negligence in destroying the property of a Los Angeles resident. Most recently, Mr. Harris won a $350,000 jury trial verdict against Bank of America for wrongly seizing $140,000 from a customer's account.

While Mr. Harris' practice is largely based on courtroom trials, he has also been highly successful outside the courtroom, working with clients on cases ranging from sexual harassment to wrongful death. In the past two years alone, he has helped achieve client settlements in excess of $10 million.