Jeffrey R. Harris
Founding Partner | Trial Lawyer
Email: Email Jeff
Jeffrey R. Harris is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and one of the nation's leading trial attorneys, recognized for trying complex, high-stakes civil cases to verdict.
For more than two decades, he has represented individuals and families in catastrophic injury, wrongful death, product liability, medical negligence, and commercial litigation, securing hundreds of millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements. He is frequently retained by other attorneys to serve as lead trial counsel in their most significant jury trials.
Jeff believes that every trial is ultimately about responsibility. Long before jurors calculate damages or weigh legal standards, they decide who should be believed, and who deserves to bear the consequences of what happened. He has spent years studying the science of jury decision-making and applying insights from behavioral science and cognitive psychology to the courtroom. His trial strategies focus on how jurors evaluate credibility, assign blame, and reach consensus, allowing him to present complex cases in ways that resonate in the jury room.
That philosophy has shaped a career marked by landmark verdicts in product liability, medical malpractice, movie and set safety, wrongful death, and commercial litigation. Jeff's work has helped expose dangerous products, improve public safety, and hold corporations accountable for decisions that placed profits ahead of people. His cases have been featured by The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, CBS Evening News, and numerous other national media outlets.
Jeff graduated first in his class from Mercer University School of Law, where he served as Editor in Chief of the Mercer Law Review and received the Woodruff Medal, the law school's highest academic honor. Before law school, he earned an MBA from the Mercer Business School and a bachelor's degree from the University of Georgia.
Outside the courtroom, Jeff enjoys spending time with his wife and children, fly fishing, diving and exploring the outdoors. Those pursuits provide the balance and perspective that he brings to the demanding work of representing clients in life's most consequential disputes.
Areas of Practice:
- Serious Personal Injury
- Wrongful Death
- Product Liability
- Automotive Products Liability
- Commercial and Business Tort Litigation
- Medical Malpractice
Bar Admissions:
- Georgia
- U.S. Supreme Court
Education:
- Mercer University, Walter F. George School of Law, Macon, Georgia, 1999 J.D.
- Honors: Magna Cum Laude
- Honors: Recipient, The Woodruff Medal (First Honor Graduate)
- Honors: Member, Brainerd Currie Honor Society
- Honors: Order of Barristers
- Honors: Moot Court Board
- Honors: National Team, Intrastate Team (Best Team, Best Brief)
- Honors: First in Class
- Law Review: Mercer Law Review, Editor-in-Chief, 1998-99
- Mercer University, MBA, 1997
- University of Georgia, B.A., 1995
Honors and Awards:
- Georgia Super Lawyers Top 100
- Georgia Verdicts Hall of Fame Inductee
- Top 100 Trial Lawyers, The National Trial Lawyers
- 10 Best Attorneys in Georgia, American Institute of Personal Injury Attorneys (AIOPIA)
- Top One Percent, The National Association of Distinguished Counsel
- Verdicts Hall of Fame – Product Liability, Fulton County Daily Report
- The Nestlehutt Award, Georgia Trial Lawyers Association
- Georgia’s Legal Elite, Georgia Trend
- Atlanta’s Legal Elite, The Atlanta
- Finest Lawyers of the South, South Magazine
- On the Rise, 14 Top Lawyer Under 40 in Georgia, Fulton County Daily Report
- Super Lawyer
- Rising Star
Professional Associations and Memberships:
- State Bar of Georgia, Member of State Disciplinary Board
- American Association for Justice, Board of Governors
- Southern Trial Lawyers Association, Board Member
- Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, Vice President and Champion Member; Membership Committee Co-Chair; Legislative Committee
- American Bar Association, Member
- American Trial Lawyers Association, Member
- AIEG, Member
- Atlanta Bar Association, Member
- Lawyers Club of Atlanta, Member
- Savannah Bar Association, Member
- International Society of Barristers, Fellow
- Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, Member
Published Works:
- “Board of the County Commissioners v. Brown: Nepotism, Skepticism, and Causation Under 42 U.S.C.,” Mercer Law Review, 1998
- Co-Author, “Constitutional Criminal Procedure – A Two Year Survey,” Mercer Law Review, 1999
- “The Effective Use of Other Similar Incident Evidence,” The Verdict, Spring 2005
Past Employment Positions:
- Harris Penn Lowry LLP
- Scherffius, Ballard, Still & Ayres
- Butler, Wooten, Scherffius, Fryhofer, Daughtery & Sullivan LLP
- Victim-Witness Assistance Program, Athens-Clarke Solicitor General’s Office
