ATTORNEY /

James P. Harris

shareholder
manchester
Business Litigation Intellectual Property Data Breach Data Privacy & Security Electronic Discovery Labor & Employment Mediation & Arbitration
ABOUT JAMES P. HARRIS

J.P. harnesses over twenty years of diverse litigation experience to provide sound counsel to the firm’s clients.  He is highly efficient, delivering quality work product that is practical and useful to address clients’ complex needs. Clients and other lawyers seek out J.P. when the stakes are high and the issues are complicated. Clients benefit from his experience servicing clients across varied sectors in all manner of pre-litigation and litigation settings. J.P. adeptly transitions between counselor and advocate, when clients need both to navigate the complexities of their particular business environment.

KEY CASES
  • Represented hospitals throughout New Hampshire to obtain a permanent injunction against the Commissioner of Health and Human Services to stop violations of the hospitals’ constitutional rights through the boarding of involuntary emergency admission patients.

  • Represented an international franchisor in a dispute over development of franchises in Mexico.

  • Successfully represented a real estate developer in reversing a municipalities wrongful denial of a special exception, including preserving the reversal at the New Hampshire Supreme Court.

  • Defended staffing company in multiple nation-wide collective action claims brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

  • Represented website developer against nation-wide class action alleging unfair and deceptive advertising to avoid class certification.

  • Garnered arbitration award for developer eliminating a decade of service charges and claims barred by the statute of limitations pursued by regional construction material supplier.

  • Part of patent litigation team representing a leader of fully automated, high-precision, high-speed die bonding and epoxy dispensing systems that successfully won the country’s first-ever bench trial held on the issue of IPR estoppel and after five years of litigation, successfully defended a 40M dollar claim by obtaining summary judgment based on patent invalidity.

  • Represented software developers and customers in disputes over software implementation projects. Successfully defended engineering firm in litigation matters concerning combined stormwater and sewage overflow project.

  • Successfully represented telecommunications company in bid challenge for state contract.

  • Represented municipality to pursue design firm and contractor in connection with faulty waste water treatment plant re-design.

  • Defended client against claim of violation of nonsolicitation agreement and obtained favorable settlement for wages and benefits not paid due to improper classification as independent contractor in violation of wage statute.

  • Obtained a jury verdict for a financial planner that was underpaid commissions.

  • Successfully argued before the New Hampshire Supreme Court on behalf of a timber company and its principals against an insurance company that breached its insurance agreement.

  • Successfully argued before the New Hampshire Supreme Court on behalf of a restaurant owner for the invalidation of a town smoking ban.

  • Obtained summary judgment on behalf of national roof shingle manufacturer on claims of breach of warranty and violation of the consumer protection act.

  • Successfully obtained an award of benefits on behalf of widow in a workmans’ compensation matter.

  • Prosecuted to a favorable settlement a claim for violation of a non-solicitation covenant and theft of trade secrets against a regional manager of a mortgage company and his new employer.

  • Obtained summary judgment against an outside salesperson and then negotiated a settlement of a claim for unpaid commissions.

EDUCATION
  • J.D., The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, magna cum laude
  • Editorial Assistant for the Catholic University Law Review
  • B.A., Swarthmore College, with honors
ADMISSIONS, MEMBERSHIPS & CERTIFICATIONS
  • State of New Hampshire - State and Federal Courts
  • Commonwealth of Massachusetts - State and Federal Courts
  • United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit
  • New Hampshire Bar Association (Past Member of Legislation Committee)
  • American Bar Association
AWARDS
  • 2022 Go To Lawyer for Cybersecurity/Data Privacy, Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly
  • Chambers USA, Commercial Litigation
  • 2014 40 Under Forty, New Hampshire Union Leader
  • Best Lawyers in America®, Commercial Litigation
  • Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce Leadership Class of 2010
  • Leadership New Hampshire, Class of 2016
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PUBLICATIONS
INDUSTRY & CIVIC INVOLVEMENT
  • Board Member, Granite United Way
  • Former Chair, St. Joseph Community Services Board of Directors (Meals on Wheels for Hillsborough County)
  • Former Chair of Board of Trustees, the Kevin T. McHugh Memorial Scholarship Fund