A partner since 2002, Erica Harris has litigated complex civil cases at Susman Godfrey LLP since 1998, representing both plaintiffs and defendants at the trial and appellate levels in state and federal courts across the country and in international arbitrations. Her wide experience includes breach of contract, tortious interference, fraud, shareholder oppression, employment, antitrust, patent, ERISA, products liability, securities and class actions. Ms. Harris was recently named one of Houston’s Professionals on the Fast Track by H Texas magazine and a "Rising Star" by Texas Monthly magazine and served on the firm's Executive Committee from 2007-2008.

Representative cases include:

Poly-America, LP v. Aloca, Inc. Ms. Harris is lead counsel for plaintiff in this patent infringement action.

Braun, et al v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Ms. Harris and another partner, Neal Manne, represent one of the world's largest retailers in the defense of this wage and hour class action pending in the state of Minnesota. The retailer appointed Susman Godfrey LLP to be its national trial counsel in 2005.

Luna v. Poly-America, Inc. Ms. Harris represents the defendant as lead counsel in this wrongful termination case. The parties completed oral argument in the Texas Supreme Court in January 2006 on issues arising from the district court's grant of defendant's motion to compel arbitration and are awaiting the Court's decision.

Cannon Interests-Houston v. Kinder Morgan Texas Pipeline, L.P. Ms. Harris represented plaintiff as lead counsel in this multi-million dollar breach of contract action, involving the natural gas industry. After winning three motions to compel, plaintiff settled this case in May 2006.

Lyondell-Citgo Refining LP v. Petroleos de Venezuela, SA and PDVSA-Petroleo, S.A. This quarter of a billion dollar breach of contract action arising from a long term contract for the supply of crude oil settled in April 2006, after Susman Godfrey obtained an adverse inference against the defendants for refusing to produce documents and while plaintiff's motion for summary judgment was pending. Ms. Harris, Vineet Bhatia and Lee Godfrey represented plaintiff LCR in this action against the state owned oil company of Venezuela.

Kothmann Enterprises, Inc. v. Trinity Industries, Inc. Ms. Harris and Max Tribble tried and won a bench trial in May 2005 on the defendants' equitable defenses in this patent infringement action.

Spanish Broadcasting Systems, Inc. v. Clear Channel Communications, Inc. and Hispanic Broadcasting Corporation. Steve Susman and Ms. Harris represented Clear Channel Communications in this $1.5 billion antitrust action, involving the radio industry. Ms. Harris and Mr. Susman obtained both a dismissal of the action in the lower court and affirmance of that decision in the Eleventh Circuit.

Anne Butler Leonard, et al. v. Ida Jo Butler Moran, et al. Ms. Harris and Robert Rivera represented defendants in this shareholder oppression case, which was settled shortly after defendants' won their motion to transfer venue in North Carolina state court.

DeGeorge v. Residential Funding Corporation. Ms. Harris, Steve Susman and Jonathan Ross won reversal from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals of a $96 million judgment against our client, which led to a confidential settlement on remand.

Bussian et al v. RJR Nabisco, Inc. Randy Wilson and Ms. Harris settled this ERISA class action on behalf of former pensioners who had lost their pensions after winning an appeal in the Fifth Circuit.

Ms. Harris graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude from Rice University in three years, with a triple major in Economics, Policy Studies and Managerial Studies. At Rice, she won the Gaston V. Rimlinger prize for Best Senior Thesis in Economics. In 1996, Ms. Harris obtained her J.D. from the University of Texas, where she was awarded the designations of Vice Chancellor (second in class) and Order of the Coif. While at UT, Ms. Harris also won the Thad T. Hutcheson Moot Court Competition, published two law review articles, and served as both a member of and an Associate Editor for the Texas Law Review.

From 1996-1997, Ms. Harris clerked for the Honorable Lee H. Rosenthal of the Southern District of Texas. Immediately following her clerkship, Ms. Harris won the prestigious Olin Fellowship and accepted the position of Visiting Lecturer in Law at the University of Virginia School of Law. At UVA, Ms. Harris continued to write, authoring two more law review articles and contributing to a leading text on economics.

Upon completion of her fellowship in 1998, Ms. Harris joined Susman Godfrey LLP.

Ms. Harris has been admitted to the United States Supreme Court and the United States Court of Appeals for the 2nd, 5th and 11th Circuits. She is licensed to practice in Texas and New York and is a member of the American Bar Association, Federal Bar Association, Fifth Circuit Bar Association, Houston Bar Association, Association of Women Attorneys, Houston Young Lawyers Association, and Association of Trial Lawyers of America and is a Fellow of the Houston Bar Foundation.

Ms. Harris' publications include:

The Regulation of Managed Care: Conquering Individualism and Cynicism in America, 6 VA. J. OF SOC. POL'Y & THE LAW 315 (1999).

Corporate Restructuring, Technical Change and the Distribution of Labor Income in THE MACROFOUNDATIONS OF ECONOMIC GROWTH (1998) (with Dr. Dagobert Brito of Rice University & Dr. Michael D. Intriligator of the University of California at Los Angeles).