Biography
A Practice Built to Scale
Practice
Harvey Specter joined Holdsworth & Inkwell as a partner in 2009 after a decade at a premier corporate litigation firm in New York. He became Managing Partner of the firm in 2018, succeeding James Carrington, and continues to chair the firm-wide Commercial Litigation practice. His approach to client matters is consistent: identify the strongest argument, present it without apology, and resolve the matter before it becomes a drag on the client's business.
Clients and Matters
He has tried over sixty matters and resolved several hundred more through negotiation. His clients include Fortune 500 manufacturers, technology companies, and private equity sponsors in complex commercial disputes, including breach of contract matters, fiduciary duty disputes, and post-acquisition disputes.
Leadership
The firm's Commercial Litigation practice has tripled in size during his tenure as Managing Partner. He maintains an active client practice despite his administrative role and has appeared in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals four times in the past three years.
Credentials
Built Over Years
Harvey Specter's standing rests on a record, not a description of one. What follows was built the same deliberate way as the rest of his practice, one matter at a time. The same care applies whether the entry is routine or the kind that draws attention. Each one stands as its own point of accountability, earned over the course of his career and confirmed independently of this page. For how this fits a standard applied the same way across every office, see the firm's full credentials.
Bar Admissions
Court Admissions
Education
- B.A., Economics, NYU College of Arts and Sciences, 1995
- J.D., Harvard Law School, 1998
Attorneys are licensed only in the jurisdictions listed in their individual credentials. Admission to practice varies by attorney and by court; nothing on this page implies licensure in any jurisdiction not expressly stated.
Recognition
- The Bar Compendium | Leading Litigators in America, 2023
- Top Lawyers in America | Commercial Litigation, 2025
- The Bar Compendium 500 | Leading Litigators in America, 2023
- Meridian Legal Register | Group 1, Litigation: General Commercial (California)
Practice Areas
Where He Concentrates
The practice areas below reflect where Harvey Specter's experience has concentrated over more than a decade with the firm. Some lawyers range widely; his strength lies in returning to the same kinds of disputes long enough to know them completely. Each area represents years of sustained work, not a passing credential.
Practice Area
Commercial Litigation
Trial-tested representation for businesses navigating contract disputes, business torts, and competitive harm.
Practice Area
Insurance Recovery
Recovery for businesses and policyholders facing denied claims, coverage disputes, and bad-faith conduct by insurance carriers.
Practice Area
eDiscovery
Strategic management of electronically stored information in complex litigation, including preservation, review, and production.
Sectors
Industry Experience
The sectors below mark the industries where Harvey Specter has spent real time, learning how those businesses actually operate. That grounding shapes how he reads a dispute from the outset, before the first filing is made.
Sector
Healthcare and Life Sciences
Complex litigation representation for hospital systems, healthcare providers, pharmaceutical companies, and life sciences clients.
Sector
Energy and Utilities
Litigation for utilities, energy services companies, and oil and gas operators across commercial, insurance, and regulatory disputes.
Sector
Financial Services
Litigation for banks, mortgage servicers, investment funds, and private equity sponsors across securities and fiduciary disputes.
Sector
Technology
Litigation for technology companies in commercial disputes, cross-border discovery, and electronic-evidence-intensive matters.
Sector
Manufacturing
Litigation for industrial manufacturers in supply chain disputes, trade secret matters, and product recall coverage.
Experience
What the Matters Built
The matters below are drawn from Harvey Specter's own case record rather than a summary of it, each presented on its own facts and its own resolution. Together they show how he has actually worked across his practice, not a preview of how any future matter will go. What one matter required, and how it resolved, speaks to that matter alone and does not predict the outcome of another.
Secured Supreme Court Ruling Resolving Circuit Split on Coverage Trigger
appellate-ruling2026GeorgiaWon Court of Federal Claims Bid Protest for Defense Contractor
bid-protest-decision2025District of ColumbiaWon Public Bid Protest Under Louisiana Public Bid Law
bid-protest-decision2025LouisianaDefended Manufacturer in Utah Personal Injury Action
jury-verdict2024UtahAffirmed Defense Trial Verdict in Manufacturing Antitrust Action
trial-verdict2024CaliforniaReversed Insurance Bad Faith Judgment Before the California Supreme Court
trial-verdict2024California
Resources
Insights & Analysis
The analysis below is Harvey Specter's own, not the firm's collective voice. It reflects the same close reading of the record that shapes his practice, offered here so a reader can judge his thinking directly.
white-paper
Breaking the Mass-Arbitration Fee Trap: Defense Tactics After Wallrich, Frazier, and the AAA Rule Overhauls
Mass arbitration weaponizes up-front fees to coerce settlement. A defense framework for drafting, structuring, and litigating against coercive bulk filings after recent appellate wins.
white-paper
Mallory's Long Reach: Defeating Consent-by-Registration Jurisdiction in a Multi-State Practice
Mallory revived registration-based general jurisdiction, but its scope is unsettled. A defense framework for resisting forum-shopped suits across a multi-state footprint.
article
Pennsylvania's Fair Share Act After a Decade: How the 60% Threshold Has Shaped Multi-Party Defense
A decade into Pennsylvania's Fair Share Act, the 60% threshold for joint and several liability has produced a defense practice that operates differently than in any other modified comparative state.
Books
Argument Extended to the Page
Some questions need more room than a brief or an internal memorandum can give them. Where Harvey Specter has taken up that kind of sustained, written treatment and published the result, it is listed below, each title linking through to its own page.
Book
Zen and the Art of Cross-Examination
Cornelius Holdsworth's lifetime philosophy of cross-examination, distilled across four decades of trial practice. Now in its third edition, the definitive work on the discipline and mindset of effective witness examination.
Book
To Kill a Class Action
A strategic and doctrinal treatment of class action defense, drawing on major MDL engagements, Rule 23 certification practice, decertification motions, and the procedural and substantive frameworks that determine whether aggregated claims proceed.
Announcements
News & Activity
This page collects the public activity connected to Harvey Specter as it accumulates over the course of his practice. Each entry reflects work completed well before it became visible, the same standard applied whether the notice is large or small.
Holdsworth & Inkwell Publishes 2024 Annual Review
The firm publishes its 2024 Annual Review, highlighting practice growth across wildfire litigation, false claims act defense, and commercial litigation, alongside recognition and outlook for the year ahead.
Holdsworth & Inkwell Recognized in 2024 Meridian Legal Register Rankings
The firm has been recognized in the 2024 Meridian Legal Register rankings across multiple practice areas and states, with individual rankings for attorneys in commercial litigation, false claims act, and wildfire litigation.
Holdsworth & Inkwell Sponsors 2024 DRI Annual Meeting
The firm sponsored the 2024 Defense Research Institute Annual Meeting, the leading national gathering for civil defense attorneys, with firm attorneys participating in panels and substantive programming.
Firm Wins Defense Verdict in Pennsylvania Fair Share Act Multi-Defendant Trial
The firm secured a jury verdict for a manufacturer client in Pennsylvania multi-defendant litigation, with successful fault allocation below the 60% threshold under the Fair Share Act, producing several-only liability under 42 Pa.C.S. § 7102(a.1)(3)(iii).
Holdsworth & Inkwell Presents at 2024 ABA TIPS Annual Conference
Harvey Specter and Patty Hewes presented at the 2024 ABA Tort Trial and Insurance Practice Section Annual Conference on multi-state defense frameworks across the firm's commercial litigation practice.
Team
The Work Behind the Work
A matter is only as strong as the team assembled around it. The paralegals, assistants, and staff who support Harvey Specter bring the same discipline to every task, from a routine filing to the record that carries a matter toward trial, so nothing that passes through his practice gets prepared any less carefully than the rest.
Location
Where he Works
The details below show where to reach Harvey Specter directly, by office, phone, or mail. Wherever his work is based, it carries the same standard of care the firm holds across every location.
Phone (916) 324-0333
Fax (916) 867-5309
- Monday
- 9 AM – 5 PM
- Tuesday
- 9 AM – 5 PM
- Wednesday
- 9 AM – 5 PM
- Thursday
- 9 AM – 5 PM
- Friday
- 9 AM – 5 PM
- Saturday
- Closed
- Sunday
- Closed
Business Profiles
Other Places to Look
Harvey Specter can also be found on a handful of external directories and professional networks. These listings sit apart from the credentials above: some reflect active use, others are simply where his professional presence is registered online. They're offered here for convenience, as additional ways to locate him, not as markers of standing or endorsement.
Start the conversation.
Speak with Harvey Specter
Every engagement begins with a conversation. Reach out to discuss your matter with Harvey Specter, and what working together over time would look like.