Firm Overview

Matthew S. Harman is the
founder of Harman Law LLC.

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• A graduate of Harvard Law School, Mr. Harman handles high-stakes cases across the country in the pharmaceutical, medical device, energy, automotive, healthcare, chemical, consumer products, and telecommunications industries.
• He is a former partner of King & Spalding and tried cases for its tort litigation group, widely recognized as one of the top product liability practices in the nation.
• Mr. Harman is known for his capacity to tackle complex issues, his ability to communicate with jurors, and for his high-energy determination to obtain success for his clients.  He is a frequent writer and lecturer on a variety of legal topics.  Atlanta Magazine has named him to its list of “Rising Stars” in the legal community.

Most Recent Experience:

• Litigating in the Pennsylvania Mass Tort Program (“MTP”) in which hundreds of parents claim that ingestion of a medication during the first trimester of pregnancy produced birth defects in their children.  He was a member of the trial team of the first case tried in that MTP, against one of the most recognizable trial lawyers from the state of Texas.
• Winning a complete reversal of a $27 million jury verdict in a dram shop case brought against his client arising from an accident involving multiple fatalities and quadriplegia.  After three years on appeal — with interest pushing the judgment over $40 million — the South Carolina Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion in Mr. Harman’s client’s favor.
• Winning a complete reversal of a $80 million jury verdict in a Medicaid fraud case brought by the state of Alabama.
• Litigating in the federal multi-district litigation (“MDL”) of in the Southern District of New York in which a dietary supplement caused thousands of people to suffer from serious side effects, including strokes, heart attacks, and sudden death.

Publications and Speaking Engagements:

• C. Varner, M. Harman and C.K. Rowland, “Emerging Jury Issues” in Product Liability Litigation: Current Law, Strategies and Best Practices, Practising Law Institute (2009).
• “Enemy of the State:  The Challenges of Civil Litigation with States and Municipalities,” ABA Section of Litigation Annual Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, April 2009.
• “Vicarious Liability: Theory & Practice,” Petroleum Marketing Attorneys’ Annual Conference, Washington, D.C., April 2008.
• “E-Discovery In Healthcare Litigation: Information Management Strategies Under the New Federal Rules,” Teleconference by Legal Publishing Group of Strafford Publications, June 2007.
• “Understanding the Amended Federal Rules of Civil Procedure: What Companies Need to Know,” Morgantown, West Virginia, May 2007.
• “E-Discovery: What Healthcare Entities Need to Know Now,” Healthcare Roundtable, April 2007.
• “First Steps on the Path to Production” and “E-Discovery Project Management and the Digital Evidence Triage Team,” West Legalworks E-Discovery A-Z Workshop, Atlanta, Georgia, April 2007.
• Chairperson, Mealey’s Corporate E-Discovery Conference, Atlanta, Georgia, April 2007.
• “The New Federal E-Discovery Rules: An Expository Narrative,” Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, March 2007.
• “E-Discovery: What Healthcare Entities Need to Know Now,” Health and Law Policy Forum, March 2007.
• “Compliant E-Discovery: The Technology Tools,” ARMA International 2006 Conference, San Antonio, Texas, October 2006.
• “E-Discovery Projects and the Digital Evidence Triage Team,” “Review & Production of Electronic Documents,” and “Risk Management When Things Go Wrong: Learning from Common EDD Blunders,” West Legalworks E-Discovery: An A to Z Workshop, Atlanta, Georgia, October 2006.
• “Maintaining Privileges Under the Federal Rules” and “E-Discovery and Document Retention Policies,” North Carolina Journal of Law & Technology Seminar, Ghost in the Machine: Emerging Issues in Electronic Discovery for North Carolina Business and Practitioners, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, October 2006.
• “Being Proactive—Developing a Plan for Electronic Discovery,” Mealey’s Email Discovery & Retention Policies Conference, San Francisco, California, May 2006.
• The Daubert standard of admissibility for expert testimony.  Emory Law School, September 2005.

Education

• Mr. Harman received his J.D. from Harvard Law School.  He received a B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Kentucky, where he graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa.

Admissions

• Mr. Harman is admitted to practice in Georgia.  He has been admitted pro hac vice in courts of Alabama, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania,  South Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia.