Geoffrey L. Harrison is a “rockstar” and “powerhouse litigator” who is “relentless in the courtroom” and “one of the great trial lawyers of his generation.” That’s what Chambers USA and Lawdragon have written. The Legal 500 says “Harrison is so good that it’s scary … smarter, faster, more aggressive (when appropriate) and more strategically astute” than competitors.
Harrison joined Susman Godfrey in 1993, made partner in record time in 1996, serves on the firm’s Executive Committee, and handles high stakes appeals, arbitrations, bench trials, and especially jury trials all over the country. Harrison has handled and won all sorts of cases of all types, including accounting malpractice, antitrust, class action, construction, contract, arbitrations, environmental exposure, executive compensation, fiduciary duty, fraud, oil exploration and well decommissioning, oil production and transportation, pension liability, petrochemical and pipeline construction and contract disputes, securities, shareholder derivative, toxic torts, trade secrets, and other types of litigation.
— Won a three day trial in Delaware Chancery Court involving a private equity firm’s auction of a short line railroad. The Court rejected the disgruntled losing bidder plaintiff’s claims for breach of contract and breach of the covenant of good faith and fair dealing as against our client—the Court found breach as against our codefendants represented by a different law firm—and also rejected plaintiff’s $55 million damages model as speculative.
— Settled for pennies on the dollar a timberland investment company plaintiff’s $31 million claims for breach of contract, indemnity, and unjust enrichment in connection with the alleged loss of carbon credits in the sale of timberland. We settled after securing an excellent motion to dismiss ruling and developing evidence that plaintiff dramatically overstated its alleged damages.
— Collected $350 million for Apache Corporation after defeating multiple surety companies’ attempt to avoid paying on letters of credit and surety bonds they issued in connection with decommissioning offshore oil facilities. After 1 ½ years of active litigation and Apache-favorable rulings, the Court sanctioned the sureties and ordered them to pay millions in litigation fees and costs. The sureties settled the dispute by paying Apache an additional $140 million—for a total of $490 million (98.3% of damages sought)—and Apache agreed not to oppose their request to vacate the sanctions order.
— Won $22.6 million in an arbitration for an upstream oil and gas company against an insurance company that issued (but refused to honor) a buyer’s side representations and warranties insurance policy in connection with the acquisition of oil and gas assets. After a five-day merits hearing, the 3-0 arbitration panel awarded our client 100% of the damages sought plus $2 million in attorneys’ fees.
— Won a multi-hundred million dollar bench trial in Texas state court for Equistar Chemicals. Equistar hired Performance Contractors, Inc. as the general construction contractor on a new polyethylene plant. After a series of delays and productivity issues, PCI sued Equistar for alleged breach of contract and fraud, and sought over $175 million. Equistar counterclaimed for PCI’s breach of contract, fraud and conversion, and sought over $100 million. After a seven week trial, the court ruled for Equistar and held it was entitled to recover millions in damages from PCI.
— After a multi-week jury trial and post-trial briefing, Harrison won a “take nothing” final judgment for his defendant client and defeated plaintiff’s purported $360 million trade secret misappropriation case.
— After a full evidentiary hearing, Harrison defeated an attempt to enjoin his energy industry client from drawing on $498 million worth of letters of credit and surety bonds in connection with decommissioning offshore oil wells, platforms, and other facilities in the Gulf of Mexico.
— After a multi-week jury trial, Harrison won a $49 million judgment—on top of $24 million recovered before trial—for his energy industry client against an offshore energy company that didn’t want to pay its contractually required share of decommissioning costs. Harrison then argued and won a 3-0 decision in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirming the judgment.
— Harrison won a multi-million dollar plaintiff-side summary judgment for his national leasing company client against a national healthcare company, then secured a 3-0 affirmance in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
— Harrison won a $40 million settlement for the City of Houston from a national actuarial company in an professional negligence lawsuit involving pension benefits.
— After a two week trial, Harrison won a no liability jury verdict for his energy industry client and defeated a $20 million claim for alleged over-charges. Harrison then won the appeal and recovered over $100,000 in court costs for his client.
— After a one week hearing, Harrison won a multi-million dollar award—100% of damages sought—for his construction industry client in a confidential technology and construction industry arbitration.
— After another one week hearing, Harrison won $19.4 million—100% of damages sought—for his energy industry client in a confidential arbitration involving cost allocation for deepwater exploration.
Updated Oct 2025
