The Firm
About Whitmore Harlow
Our Foundation
Whitmore Harlow LLP was founded on a straightforward premise: victims of financial fraud and commercial misconduct deserve the same caliber of representation that sophisticated institutions retain. Since our founding, we have built a practice defined by technical depth, disciplined strategy, and an unflinching commitment to recovering what our clients have lost.
The firm is led by founding partner Richard A. Whitmore and partner Catherine M. Harlow, whose combined practice spans fraud and asset recovery, commercial litigation, and international arbitration. That range reflects a deliberate choice: financial misconduct rarely respects a single area of law, and clients are better served by a firm built to litigate a matter wherever it actually needs to go, rather than referring pieces of it out.
Our practice is deliberately focused. We do not offer general legal services. Every attorney at the firm works exclusively in fraud recovery, commercial litigation, and related financial disputes. That concentration allows us to develop insight and relationships that generalist practices cannot replicate — in courtrooms, arbitral tribunals, and regulatory proceedings across the country.
We represent individuals, family offices, closely held businesses, and institutional investors. Our matters range from single-plaintiff fraud recoveries to multi-party commercial disputes involving hundreds of millions of dollars. What they share is complexity — and our commitment to resolving them.
Our Approach
Financial fraud and commercial misconduct cases are rarely won on legal theory alone. Understanding what actually happened, how funds moved, how a transaction was structured, or where a contractual relationship broke down, requires the same rigor as the litigation itself. Our attorneys work directly with forensic accountants, financial investigators, and former regulators to build a factual record that holds up under scrutiny, not just a legal argument that sounds persuasive in isolation.
Complex disputes frequently cross state and national borders, and we structure our practice around that reality. We coordinate with local counsel where a matter requires it, pursue enforcement across jurisdictions, and represent clients before arbitral tribunals as readily as we appear in state and federal court.
No two matters are alike, and we don't apply a single approach to every case. Some clients need an aggressive posture from day one; others are better served by a measured, negotiated strategy that preserves an ongoing business relationship. We build a strategy around what a client is actually trying to accomplish, and we say so plainly when a matter doesn't warrant the cost or risk of full litigation.
Discretion and Confidentiality
Financial fraud and commercial disputes are rarely comfortable to discuss publicly. A client who has been defrauded, or who is embroiled in a partnership or shareholder dispute, often has as much interest in managing how a matter becomes known as in resolving it favorably. We take that seriously.
We handle client communications, case strategy, and, where appropriate, settlement discussions with an emphasis on privacy. Where litigation is the right path, we pursue it deliberately; where a matter can be resolved through negotiation or confidential arbitration without full public litigation, we discuss that option candidly as part of an overall strategy, not as an afterthought.
What Sets Us Apart
Focused Practice
We handle only fraud recovery and complex commercial litigation. We do not take on divorces, real estate closings, personal injury matters, or general corporate work. That focus means every attorney at the firm spends their time exclusively on the kinds of disputes this page describes, rather than dividing attention across unrelated practice areas. Clients benefit from that concentration in ways that are easy to notice in practice: faster case assessment, fewer procedural surprises, and a team that has likely encountered a version of their situation before.
Technical Depth
Financial fraud and complex commercial matters require understanding the mechanics of what actually went wrong, not just the legal theory built on top of it. Our attorneys work regularly with forensic accountants, financial experts, and former regulators, and that collaboration shapes case strategy from the outset rather than being brought in only once litigation is already underway. Where a matter turns on a disputed valuation, a reconstructed transaction history, or a technical securities question, that depth is often what separates a claim that holds up from one that doesn't.
Institutional Relationships
Eighteen years of practice in the same courts and before the same arbitral institutions has given our attorneys a practical, on-the-ground familiarity that's difficult to build quickly: what a given court's procedures actually look like in practice, how a particular arbitral panel tends to manage complex disputes, and what opposing counsel in this space are likely to do next. That familiarity doesn't change the merits of a case, but it does mean fewer surprises and a more efficient path through unfamiliar procedural terrain.
Visit Our Offices
We meet with clients by appointment. For office locations, hours, and directions — including a map — please see our contact page.
Contact & DirectionsWhitmore Harlow LLP is licensed to practice law in New York and California. For matters in other jurisdictions, we associate with qualified local counsel. Attorney Advertising. Prior results do not guarantee similar outcomes.