Given the chance, many people would make their work easier, allowing for less stress and more free time. But not Marc H. Harwell, attorney at law. Rather, he chose to make his practice more difficult.
Hearing this, one might think Harwell is cut from rare cloth fashioned for mountain climbers. That is not the case. Rather, he wanted to develop as a lawyer and reap greater rewards.
“I had a good practice, but I’d been doing the same thing for quite some time, and I was ready to move on,” he says. “Difficulty is good because it helps us to grow and it makes life exciting.”
Harwell was 35 at the time. He’d been taking depositions and trying cases at Leitner, Williams, Dooley & Napolitan for about ten years, and was enjoying the work. But an unsettling realization was partly responsible for spurring him onto a new path.
“I had a harder time with 35 than 40 because I realized I was just as close to 50 as I was to 20,” he says. “I wanted to move into a higher risk area, so I gave away more than half of my practice and started working with great commitment to make my job more complex and challenging.”
A diehard athlete, Harwell began skipping his weekend bike rides in favor of going to the office on Saturdays to develop the connections he believed would benefit his practice. “I couldn’t figure out why completing another triathlon even faster than the last one was of great important to anyone, let alone me. I thought I should focus on doing something more worthwhile,” he says.
Participation in the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel (FDCC) and ALFA International, exclusive organizations that vet law firms and attorneys extensively before admitting membership, put Harwell in touch with some of the top lawyers in the country. He also established relationships with employers and large businesses across the nation. Over time, he developed a three-pronged practice.
Harwell devotes the lion’s share of his time to transportation industry defense work, making him the go-to attorney for a large number of trucking companies. He also represents employers and professionals. The latter group pulls him into construction litigation, his favorite area.
Harwell likes having three areas in which to practice because each one is distinct and has a unique nuance. “Tractor-trailer defense litigation is very difficult, and can involve injury on a grand scale. I can do that work, and enjoy it, and then represent a construction firm in a complex property issue.”
To stay on the cutting edge of the ever-shifting law in each area, Harwell continues to be active in the FDCC and ALFA. He’s the vice-chair of the transportation section and of the construction section of the FDCC, and with ALFA, he’s the practice group chair for the transportation section. His involvement with these groups and the ties he’s made within them expose him to some of the largest companies in the U.S., provide him with a network of quality peers, and immerse him in the statutes and regulations his clients depend on him knowing and understanding.
His efforts have paid off nicely. In one recent case, he represented Hargreaves and Associates, an architecture firm based in Boston, in a lawsuit brought by the City of Chattanooga against the developers, designers, and builders of the 21st century Riverfront project. With more than a half-dozen clients collectively relying on him, he was primarily responsible for getting the case dismissed without a single deposition being taken.
“Depositions are costly, so we got the case dismissed at great savings to the client,” he says.
The case, which involved the exchange of more than 100,000 pages of documents, certainly provided Harwell with the challenge he seeks. “That was a lot of data and information. When you talk about complexity, that’s a good example,” he says.
Harwell can’t pinpoint why he wanted to become a lawyer. He simply remembers being young and wanting to be an attorney when he grew up.
“I’ve always been competitive, and I’ve always questioned things, but my memory of wanting to be a lawyer is so old, I don’t remember what drew me to it,” he says.
A Chattanooga native, Harwell attended McCallie School, where he excelled in athletics, obtained a Bachelor of Arts at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and then graduated from the same school’s college of law in 1989. He’s been with Leitner ever since. “The firm was, and still is, wholly devoted to litigation. I wanted to try cases, so I thought that would be a good place to go,” he says.
Harwell immediately began taking depositions and trying cases in small claims court. While the value of the cases was not tremendous, he was able to cut his teeth as a litigator. Ten years later, he was ready to sink those teeth into more complex work.
Fourteen years later, he remains as dedicated to his practice as ever. “To be a true professional, and to do a good job, you have to give your clients priority in your life,” he says.
Harwell is married – to residential Realtor Holly Harwell, a 2013 Woman of Distinction – but has no children. Although both he and his wife are busy professionals, they do make time for each other and some of the finer things in life, namely gatherings inolving food, wine, and friends. “She’s understanding, and I’m understanding. We do our best to make time for each other,” he says.
Harwell also enjoys exercising, reading Cormac McCarthy novels, and traveling, but lists more things he used to do, and would do again if he had the time, including kayaking, scuba diving, and snow skiing.
Harwell also commits a measure of his time to civic work. He’s currently vice-president of the board of the Chattanooga History Center, and has served on the board of the local Heart Association, as a Big Brother, and as the co-chair of Siskin Memorial Foundation’s 365 Club annual fundraising campaign. To him, contributing to the local community is another part of being a true professional.
Harwell might not be cut from rare cloth fashioned for mountain climbers, but finding a lawyer more committed to his work would be difficult. Instead of taking a well-worn and easier path, he chose one less traveled and more challenging to navigate. This has sharpened him into an attorney capable of handling complex matters. Harwell has been on this path for 14 years, and at 49 years of age, has a long way to go if he chooses to stay on it. But like the boy who wanted to be a lawyer, he can’t see himself doing anything else.