Note: Harvey Reginald Specter, played by Gabriel Macht, is a newly promoted senior partner at the prestigious New York law firm Pearson Hardman and is known as one of the city's top litigators.
He is impressed with Mike Ross' quick thinking and drive to be a good lawyer, as well as his inherent ability to absorb enormous amounts of information (his photographic memory) and his extensive knowledge of law.
[1] After two years, he discovered a case with which Dennis was suppressing evidence, and rather than report it, Harvey abruptly left the DA's office despite being offered the position of head litigator, to go into private practice at Pearson Hardman.
In stark contrast to the methods of Louis Litt, Specter strongly prefers out-of-court settlements over going to court; Harvey's longstanding belief is that a courtroom has too many variables for him to be able to control, a tenet that was instilled into him by DA Cameron Dennis, his mentor.
Despite the fact that Jessica Pearson, his immediate superior, is more cautious and favors lower risk over greater reward, Specter often ignores her instructions, openly challenges her decisions, and generally does as he wants.
Michael James Ross, played by Patrick J. Adams, is a lawyer, with an eidetic memory and the ability to absorb large amounts of printed material very rapidly, who never attended law school.
In season 5, Mike's secret is discovered and he accepts time in prison for 2 years after a long trial against Anita Gibbs, an attorney who makes sending him to jail her life's mission.
Louis, knowing that Jessica intends to fire him but still wanting to help, tags along with Mike and Harvey as they convince to Sean Cahill that instead of coming to Pearson Specter, that he should focus his attention on his own boss for malicious prosecution.
She first appears in the season two episode "Blind-Sided" as an assistant district attorney in the Manhattan DA's office, assigned to prosecute a hit-and-run accident case involving the son of a longtime client of Harvey's.
This makes Alex look unprofessional in the eyes of his boss, Tommy Bratton, who gives him the reform corp case knowing it will put him in jeopardy as punishment for not ensuring Harvey join the firm after a job was made available for him.
She is fired from Specter Litt Wheeler Williams in season 9 by Faye Richardson, who was appointed by the bar as a special master to oversee operations at the firm following the disbarment of Robert Zane.
While on the stand, Harvey is able to destroy his credibility and testimony in open court, pointing out that Trevor has a long criminal past, his girlfriend (Jenny) left him for Mike once she found out he was dealing, and that he is only appearing because he was promised immunity.
To pay for a private nursing home and keep her out of a state facility, he began taking the LSAT for others and accepts a temporary job dealing marijuana for his friend Trevor Evans.
[3] Despite Harold's clumsiness and seemingly poor legal skills, he was actually a very good student at Harvard, confiding to Mike that it is only Louis's domineering management that makes him appear flustered and incompetent.
When Harvey discovers this, he instructs his client to immediately put his hotel chain's most valuable assets on the market, foiling her plan and making the advantages of a hostile acquisition disappear.
At the end of season 3, Tanner returns as the lawyer representing Ava Hessington who is now suing the still-undissolved Pearson Darby Specter firm, and all of the people involved with her case, for malpractice.
In season 5, Tanner appears in the episode 'Toe to Toe' as the lawyer representing a young female entrepreneur in an intellectual property/contract dispute against one of Harvey's clients, for whom she was a long time employee but has recently quit to start her own company.
Upon taking the case, Harvey seems eager, almost giddy, about going up against Tanner, which he sees as an opportunity to strike back at someone who has caused him no small amount of pain and scrutiny, both personally and professionally.
In season 3, Dennis returns (with a personal vendetta against Harvey) after being appointed as the special prosecutor in the US Attorney's case against Doctor Ava Hessington and her oil company, and he later brings murder charges against her when six dissidents are killed by the foreign colonel she bribed.
", going on to imply that Jessica (as he has to Harvey in the past) has no right to point out occasional indiscretions in the morality of his methods, given that she is an expensive attorney for the wealthy while he is a state prosecutor (with a mediocre salary in comparison) serving the public interest.
Robert was the lawyer who replaced an attorney who died who was representing Folsom Foods against Pearson Hardman in a multi-case gender discrimination suit (season 2), until his daughter personally got involved with the case.
He is, like Harvey, strikingly handsome and brashly confident (he also wears a handkerchief in the outer breast pocket of his suit jacket), and also appears to be fond of expensive clothing, fine dining, rare sports cars, and women.
In his first scene, Louis meets with him to try to prevent Gianapolous from taking over Hessington Oil by providing proof of GLH's investments in a wide swath of several industries, enough to draw the FTC's attention for grounds to open an antitrust investigation.
This makes for a very complicated dynamic and it eventually forces her to lie to him about Mike's status (and how it factored into Louis's becoming a name partner) in her capacity as his superior and thus puts their romantic relationship at risk.
A twisted and corrupt businessman, it is revealed that he has a widespread influence, and has done deals in the past with both Harvey Specter and Eric Woodall, the latter losing his job at the SEC at the end of "Gone" due to this relationship.
Harvey implicitly confirms that Cameron will indeed press charges soon, unwittingly giving Forstman the heads up he was looking for to sell short and make $100 million before the company's share price inevitably tanked after the investigation was announced publicly.
But Forstman had covered himself, and sent to Marcus the $150,000 for the restaurant directly, though making it appear that it had come from Harvey, knowing that he would not be able to muster the courage necessary to tell his brother the truth about the source of the money and give it all back once he had received it.
In the next episode 'Faith' after significant thought and consulting his therapist for advice, Harvey agrees to resign, and is shown at the vote of no confidence meeting presenting proof of Forstman's termination of Hardman's representation services.
He is temporarily successful, and with Louis's help, he manages to illegally publicize Harvey's salary while maintaining deniability, humiliating him in front of the whole firm in order to get the support necessary to win a vote on his desired compensation alteration.
He is the chief of the satellite division of the Stevens Investment Group, whom Louis brings in as a tenant to lease PSL office space after Mike is convicted and all of the partners leave the firm.