SUITS

Louis Marlowe Litt, M.B.A., J.D., Esq. is a corporate attorney and the managing and name partner of Litt Wheeler Williams Bennett. He was promoted to the position of senior partner at Pearson Hardman by Daniel Hardman prior to the latter’s second dismissal from the firm, and was also the quartermaster of Pearson Darby.

Louis initially resigned from Pearson Specter to prevent Jessica Pearson or Harvey Specter from firing him after he embezzled money for Charles Forstman, but after discovering that Mike Ross was a fraud and that the others covered it up, he used that information to blackmail Jessica into making him a name partner, thus forming Pearson Specter Litt.

Louis was born and raised in Scarsdale, New York. He graduated from Harvard University, achieving the Order of the Coif. He is an expert at Corporate Finance and is well known for his superb training of the associates.

Louis was a senior associate when Harvey Specter joined the firm, after leaving the District Attorney’s Office. When Fairchild, a former senior partner, had passed away, Louis came up with the idea that instead of having Daniel Hardman promote another junior partner to the position of senior partner, that he promote Harvey & himself from senior associates to junior partners, and that one day the firm might be called « Pearson Hardman Specter Litt ». Hardman agreed on the condition that whoever got McKernon Motors would be considered for partnership. Harvey manages to convince Avery McKernon to let him represent him, telling him that he is loyal and that he would never drop them, but Hardman tells Harvey to drop him since another automotive company triple the size of McKernon wanted the firm to represent them. When Harvey refuses to drop them, he ends up losing a court battle on McKernon’s behalf when the opposing counsel manages to counter him at every turn. Although Harvey initially suspects Hardman leaked his game plan, he later finds out it was Louis, who did it to gain junior partnership from Hardman. This incident is what causes the rivalry between the two lawyers.

Louis is Jewish, and has made references multiple times, like sharing his senior partnership news with his Rabbi, and asking Jessica for time-off during Rosh Hashanah, and referring to his therapist Dr. Lipschitz as a Nazi because of his German accent.

As a junior partner, Norma was made his secretary, something that Louis initially disliked. His position at the firm was put under threat, however, when Harvey, under orders from Jessica, discovered evidence which seemed to suggest that Louis had been stealing from the company. It was later revealed however, through Louis’ own indirect assistance, that it was in fact Daniel that had been stealing money, and he had set Louis up to take the blame for his misdeeds.

Rachel Elizabeth Zane, J.D. is an attorney and former associate and paralegal at Specter Litt, the daughter of Robert Zane and the wife of Mike Ross.

Rachel grew up under the shadow of her father, Robert Zane, a skilled lawyer and name partner of Rand, Kaldor & Zane. Despite her family’s wealth, she prefers to live on the money that she earns. Despite her own ability, Rachel has never been good with taking tests, so she never gets a high enough LSAT score for Harvard. Unable to get into law school, she decided to begin working as a paralegal at Pearson Hardman. Because of this, Robert began to doubt Rachel’s capabilities as a lawyer. Rachel worked as a paralegal for nearly six years before finally achieving an LSAT score high enough for Columbia Law School.

At one point, Rachel dated Colin McCarthy, a first year associate. In the end, Rachel broke up with him and his performance began to drop until, two months later, he was fired. Since then, Rachel has decided not to date someone from the office, until she meets Mike.

Harvey grew up in Riverside, New York. Harvey was 16 when he first caught his mother, Lily Specter, cheating on his father, Gordon Specter. Not wanting to hurt his father’s feelings, Harvey did not tell him about it and watched his mother’s indiscretions in silence for the next two years. Eventually, she left them. Jessica Pearson met Harvey while he was still working in the mailroom of Gordon Schmidt Van Dyke. Harvey had realized that an associate backdated a postage when he missed a filing, so he came into Jessica’s office and told her that if the firm did not declare misconduct, he would report them to the D.A. Impressed, Jessica soon paid for Harvey to go to Harvard Law, where he « jerked off the entire time [he was] there ». He also met Dana Scott, a rival at law and occasional lover.

After graduating 5th in his class from Harvard Law, Jessica wanted him to gain « trial experience », so she recommended that he work as an assistant for New York District Attorney Cameron Dennis, saying that « Cameron was the only one he should learn from. » Harvey worked as an Assistant District Attorney under Cameron for the next 2 years. This is where he met Donna Paulsen, who became his secretary. After catching Cameron burying evidence on his cases, Harvey decided to leave the District Attorney’s office to work at Pearson Hardman, with Donna following right behind him. Entering Pearson Hardman as a « sophomore » associate, he soon went up the ranks and became a senior associate. While there, he meets Zoe Lawford, a fellow associate Harvey shared a mutual attraction with. 

In 2007, Jessica approaches Harvey to find out who is embezzling money from the firm. Initially suspecting junior partner and colleague Louis Litt, they later realize that it is actually the managing partner, Daniel Hardman. Through Donna, he and Jessica find out that Daniel had been stealing from the company for his extramarital affair with Monica Eton, so they blackmail him into surrendering his seat at the firm to Jessica. Because of his deal with Jessica, Harvey is then promoted to junior partner. His father, Gordon Specter, who had long been rooting for him to be promoted, dies of a heart attack. He has been visiting his grave occasionally since then, symbolically sharing drinks with him.

Michael James « Mike » Ross is a former lawyer and junior partner at Specter Litt, a former legal consultant/supervisor at the Eastside Legal Clinic, with whom he had a legal partnership with, and a former investment banker at Sidwell Investment Group. He is married to Rachel Zane.

He was hired by Harvey Specter, a senior partner at Pearson Hardman, as an associate lawyer, despite Mike not having graduated college or having a law degree. Mike left Pearson Specter after accepting the job offer to work at SIG; however, he returns later in season 4 after Jonathan Sidwell fired him from his firm. Shortly after his return, Louis Litt discovered his fraud and leveraged it to become name partner, forming Pearson Specter Litt. After Jack Soloff and the other partners at PSL acknowledge Mike’s worth to the firm, he is promoted from junior associate to junior partner.

He was arrested for conspiracy to commit fraud in the season 5 summer finale, and was involved in a trial against the U.S Attorney’s Office for his illegal practicing of law. Although the verdict was not guilty, Mike plead guilty before the official verdict, and was incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution, Danbury in Connecticut. However, after being presented a deal by Sean Cahill, he helped keep Frank Gallo behind bars and have insider trader William Sutter arrested, and was freed from prison as a result.

He became a legal consultant and supervisor at the Eastside Legal Clinic in Queens, although his time there was brief as he attempted to get accepted into the New York State Bar to become a legitimate lawyer. In the season 6 finale, Mike becomes legitimate and resumes his position of junior partner at Pearson Specter Litt while also maintaining his ties to the legal clinic.