Benchmark Litigation is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Garden, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2026

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Cookies Settings

Key contacts
Jonathan Harris: Founder & Managing Partner
Quick facts
Partners

15

Other qualified practitioners

15

Total number of lawyers

30

Practitioners (worldwide)

31

Key practice areas
Dispute resolution
Firm overview

Harris, St. Laurent & Wechsler LLP is a premier boutique law firm renowned for its elite litigation, strategic advisory services, and unwavering commitment to client success. We represent clients in the full spectrum of employment matters; criminal, regulatory and internal investigations; and commercial litigation and arbitration.

The firm has earned national recognition for its excellence and has been shortlisted by Benchmark Litigation for National Labor & Employment Firm of the Year in 2024-2026, with six partners recognized as Litigation Stars, and two recognized as Future Stars.

Small by design, the firm was founded in 2009 with a singular end in mind: to deliver results for our clients in an open and modern manner. Harris, St. Laurent & Wechsler is not just a law firm—it’s a trusted partner in navigating complex legal challenges with precision, integrity, and unmatched expertise. We live for this and are prepared for whatever challenges our clients encounter.

Employment
HSW has a first-tier national employment practice, and is best known for representing individual founders, partners, C-suite executives, top producers, and practice leaders. In addition, the firm has a meaningful roster of company clients. Our practice includes litigation and arbitration, negotiation of employment agreements and separations, discreetly handling internal investigations, co-founder disputes, restrictive covenant disputes, and employment counseling. HSW is also known for its high-profile successes in FINRA arbitrations, having secured two of the six largest-ever FINRA awards. We advise clients on hundreds of millions of dollars of agreements, separations and disputes annually, and represent clients across a broad range of industries, including financial services, technology, real estate, media, health, travel, fashion, law, and entertainment. 

White Collar
HSW’s White Collar department defends individuals and companies charged in sophisticated federal criminal, state and other governmental and internal investigations, typically involving financial crimes, public corruption or national security. We represent clients in cases and investigations brought by U.S. Attorney's offices, the SEC, the US Department of Justice, the Federal Reserve, and state and local prosecutors, among other agencies. These matters span a wide range of allegations, including insider trading, criminal antitrust, public corruption, crypto and NFTs related conduct, asset forfeiture, and other investigations. Because of our firm's elite Employment Practice, we also specialize in representing senior executives in connection with internal, regulatory, and criminal investigations stemming from their employment.

Civil Litigation and Arbitration
HSW leverages its proven skill and reputation as a first-seat trial firm to achieve results — through trial or resolution—for plaintiffs and defendants in complex commercial litigation and arbitration, including employment matters, founder’s disputes, breach of contract and business torts, securities and intellectual property cases. The firm specializes in matters demanding a high level of financial and commercial know-how. HSW tries cases in state and federal court, and in all major arbitral forums.

Updated Oct 2025

Key practice areas
  • Commercial disputes
  • Government and regulatory
  • Labor and employment
  • White collar crime

 

Key practice contacts & recent matter highlights

Jonathan Harris    
Labor and employment    
jon@hs-law.com 

  • Malicious prosecution action against Deutsche Bank on behalf of Matt Connolly, a former trader at the Bank who was acquitted of all criminal charges related to Libor market manipulation.    

  • Representing a nationally pre-eminent medical group in the sale of its practice to a prominent hospital, along with the negotiation of long term post-sale employment agreements.    

  • Trial counsel, for a ground-breaking 2023 federal jury trial involving trademark protection for NFT’s in the Metaverse.

Andrew St. Laurent  
Commercial disputes  
andrew@hs-law.com

  • Represents CEO of healthcare company in investigation by New York State Attorney General Medicaid Fraud Unit.    

  • Represents defendant in civil litigation under the Adult Survivors Act and Gender Motivated Violence Act in New York Supreme Court.    

  • Represents former public company CFO in defense of shareholder class and derivative actions in federal court in New York and Delaware Court of Chancery.
Sector expertise
  • Accounting
  • Financial services
  • Government and public policy
  • Healthcare
  • Industrials
  • Insurance

 

Other offices

District of Columbia
1775 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Suite 650
Washington, D.C. 20006
T:
+11 202 617 5971
W:
https://hs-law.com

Address:
40 Wall Street, 53rd Floor
New York, NY 10005
Tel:+1 212 397 3370 Email:Contact Us Web Address:http://www.hs-law.com
Rankings published in 2025
Dispute resolution
Recommended
69 firms ranked
View full list

Recommended

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
4 practice areas
View profile
Anderson Kill
1 practice area
View profile
Arnold & Porter
9 practice areas
View profile
Ashurst Perkins Coie
4 practice areas
View profile
Bleichmar Fonti & Auld
1 practice area
View full profile
Brown Rudnick
1 practice area
View profile
Cahill Gordon & Reindel
6 practice areas
View profile
Cohen & Gresser
6 practice areas
View profile
Cohen Ziffer Frenchman & McKenna
1 practice area
View full profile
Dechert
5 practice areas
View profile
Elsberg Baker & Maruri
9 practice areas
View full profile
Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson
1 practice area
View full profile
Goodwin Procter
4 practice areas
View profile
Greenberg Traurig
9 practice areas
View profile
Groombridge Wu Baughman & Stone
4 practice areas
View full profile
Harris St. Laurent
1 practice area
View full profile
Hoguet Newman Regal & Kenney
2 practice areas
View full profile
Kaplan Fox
1 practice area
View profile
Kaplan Martin
1 practice area
View full profile
Kasowitz LLP
5 practice areas
View full profile
Kelley Drye & Warren
1 practice area
View profile
Labaton Keller Sucharow
1 practice area
View full profile
Lankler Siffert & Wohl
1 practice area
View profile
Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein
2 practice areas
View profile
McDermott Will & Schulte
2 practice areas
View profile
O'Melveny & Myers
5 practice areas
View profile
Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe
8 practice areas
View profile
Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler
6 practice areas
View full profile
Paul Hastings
5 practice areas
View profile
Pomerantz
1 practice area
View full profile
Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd
1 practice area
View full profile
Robins Kaplan
4 practice areas
View full profile
Ropes & Gray
1 practice area
View profile
Selendy Gay PLLC
1 practice area
View profile
Sher Tremonte
1 practice area
View profile
Walden Macht Haran & Williams
2 practice areas
View full profile
White & Case
4 practice areas
View profile
Willkie Farr & Gallagher
4 practice areas
View full profile
Winston Taylor
8 practice areas
View profile

Highly Recommended

A&O Shearman
3 practice areas
View full profile
Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann
1 practice area
View full profile
Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
1 practice area
View profile
Cravath Swaine & Moore
1 practice area
View full profile
Davis Polk & Wardwell
5 practice areas
View full profile
Debevoise & Plimpton
9 practice areas
View full profile
Freshfields
1 practice area
View full profile
Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
4 practice areas
View full profile
Hecker Fink
2 practice areas
View full profile
Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer
5 practice areas
View full profile
Holwell Shuster & Goldberg
1 practice area
View full profile
King & Spalding
9 practice areas
View full profile
Kirkland & Ellis
7 practice areas
View profile
Kobre & Kim
1 practice area
View full profile
Latham & Watkins
4 practice areas
View full profile
Levine Lee
1 practice area
View full profile
Milbank
4 practice areas
View full profile
MoloLamken
1 practice area
View full profile
Morvillo Abramowitz Grand Iason & Anello
2 practice areas
View full profile
Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison
5 practice areas
View full profile
Proskauer
9 practice areas
View full profile
Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan
7 practice areas
View full profile
Sidley Austin
4 practice areas
View full profile
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
4 practice areas
View full profile
Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
9 practice areas
View full profile
Sullivan & Cromwell
5 practice areas
View full profile
Susman Godfrey
1 practice area
View full profile
Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz
3 practice areas
View full profile
Weil Gotshal & Manges
8 practice areas
View full profile
WilmerHale
4 practice areas
View full profile
Linked Reviews
Dispute Resolution

With an unusual structure that qualifies as “boutique” even while composed of a team domiciled in offices in New York and Washington, DC, Harris St. Laurent & Wechsler juggles a novel mix of white-collar crime, commercial litigation and employment work. Starting in 2009, the firm showcases talent that boasts credentials from larger and better-known law firms, while continually building a dispute-resolution team to rival those at these other firms.
     Jonathan Harris in the New York office is a recipient of resounding praise from peers and clients. One client sums up Harris as “really composed and calm, yet a fierce advocate and litigator,” and goes on to elaborate, “Jon carefully listens to understands every relevant aspect of the situation and then thinks out of the box to come up with the best possible solution. He does not have to act tough to be tough. [He is] Soft spoken but tactical and can be aggressive or ruthless if needed.” Another extols, “Jon is a consummate counselor and fixer, a deep thought partner, highly creative, and detailed. [He] Plays chess with the other side and helps you stay ahead.” A contemporary and former opponent calls Harris “an A+ level trial lawyer,” and confirms, “He's great with judges, witnesses and juries. It’s hard to not like him, even [when you’re] against him. [He’s] Just terrific overall.” Harris and employment-focused name partner David Wechsler represented a former trader at Deutsche Bank who was indicted during the global LIBOR investigations for alleged manipulation of benchmark interest rates. An initial conviction at trial was reversed on appeal by the Second Circuit, which fully exonerated the client, agreeing with the firm’s argument that the trader was not a member of senior management and that his conduct did not constitute any wrongdoing. Following the acquittal, the firm team brought a claim against Deutsche Bank for civil malicious prosecution, alleging that Deutsche Bank, to protect the real decision makers in senior management, scapegoated the client and provided false information (or failed to provide truthful information) to the government. After defeating Deutsche Bank’s motion to dismiss, the parties settled. Another New York partner, Yonaton Aronoff, is another client favorite. “He is an excellent strategic thinker and courtroom advocate,” claims one such client. Joseph Gallagher makes the leap from future star to litigation star in this edition on the gathering momentum of peer recognition and client accolades. One client calls Gallagher, “prepared, committed, insightful, intelligent and practical,” and explains, “Joe listens to our problems and questions, and helps us come up with an approach that works for us. He is incredibly practical and resourceful.”
     Resident in the firm’s DC office, Barry Pollack attends to a white-collar niche. A client describes Pollack as “an unrivalled expert in his field, who brings to the team a wealth of knowledge and experience and outside-the-box thinking.” Pollack led the defense of another prominent DC lawyer on multiple charges related to an alleged criminal sexual assault of another attorney. Pollack obtained an acquittal on all counts following a two-week jury trial.

Sponsored

Sponsored