Harris M. Mufson is a partner in the New York office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.  Harris is a member of the Labor and Employment Practice Group and Co-Chair of the firm’s Whistleblower Team.  He is highly regarded as a trusted advisor to clients in a wide range of industries regarding significant employment issues.  Harris has vast expertise in employment matters, representing employers in disputes regarding discrimination and retaliation, whistleblowing, sexual harassment, wrongful discharge, defamation, breach of contract, wage and hour laws, and restrictive covenants.  Harris is a seasoned, first-chair trial lawyer.  Most recently, Harris secured a complete victory on behalf of a client in a week-long jury trial of a high-stakes whistleblower retaliation claim under California law.  The jury returned a unanimous defense verdict after 10 minutes of deliberations.

In addition to fiercely defending clients in court, Harris counsels clients on compliance with employment-related laws, as well as the development, implementation and enforcement of personnel policies and procedures.  He has also conducted numerous internal investigations regarding sensitive employment matters.

Clients have praised Harris’ ability to craft practical legal solutions to complex problems.  Recognized as a thought leader in the industry, Harris has delivered numerous seminars before the American Bar Association on key developments in employment laws.  As a result of Harris’ extraordinary talents, he has received numerous distinctions.  Harris was recognized as one of The Best Lawyers in America® for his expertise in employment law.  In 2023, he was named a “Client Service All Star” by BTI Consulting Group.  In 2022, he was named to the 2022 Lawdragon 500 Leading Corporate Employment Lawyers guide, featuring “the nation’s top advisors to businesses, universities, nonprofits and other organizations dealing with the mind-bending matrix of today’s global workforce.”  Harris was also included in the 29th edition of The Best Lawyers in America®.  In 2021, he was named a “Labor & Employment Star” by Benchmark Litigation.  In 2020, Harris was also identified as a “Rising Star” by the New York Law Journal.

Representative recent litigations include:*

• Won a high-stakes jury trial on behalf of a client in defense of a whistleblower retaliation claim under CA Labor Code §1102.5. (Adam Fox v. Harry Winston, Inc. (C.D.C.A. 2023));
• Enjoined the Town of East Hampton from proceeding with an unprecedented and highly-publicized plan to close the historic East Hampton Airport—which has operated continuously as a public airport for the past eighty-five years—and reopen it shortly thereafter as a purported “private use” airport subject to substantial restrictions on aircraft operators’ ability to use it in the future (East End Hangars, Inc. et al v. Town of East Hampton, (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2022));
• Won a high-profile lawsuit filed by the New York Attorney General alleging health and safety violations under New York Labor Law (Letita James, Attorney General of the State of New York v. Amazon.com Inc. (1st Dep’t 2022));
• Obtained a temporary restraining order enjoining a former sales executive from engaging in competitive activities in violation of his non-competition obligations (Capchase Inc. v. Sukhraj (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 2022));
• Obtained a temporary restraining order enjoining a former sports executive from violating his non-competition obligations (Relevent Sports LLC v. Stillitano (S.D.N.Y. 2022));
• Won a complete dismissal of a Bank Secrecy Act whistleblower lawsuit (Shaikh v. National Bank of Pakistan (2nd Cir. 2021)).

Prior to joining Gibson Dunn, Harris was a partner in the Labor & Employment Law Department of an AmLaw 50 firm, where he served as co-head of the Whistleblowing & Retaliation Practice Group and the Disability, Accommodation & Leave Management Practice Group.

Harris earned his Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 2006, where he was Senior Editor of the Journal of Labor and Employment.  Harris earned a Bachelor of Arts degree magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania in 2003.

Harris is deeply committed to his pro bono practice and is Chairman of the Mount Sinai Medical Legal Partnership, an organization established in 2016 to provide free legal services to low income patients to prevent and remedy unjust and hazardous social and environmental conditions.