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Harold Gunderson is a friend and former coworker of Mike Ross.

History

Harold was once one of the many associates of Louis Litt at Pearson Hardman. Harold was particularly verbally abused by Louis for what he viewed as his ineptitude. Despite having proved himself a competent and skilled enough lawyer, the amount of slip-ups Harold had under Louis, which was mostly brought on by Louis' intimidating and domineering micromanagement of them, outweighed this, at least in the perspective of his coworkers and superiors. After years of working as his associate, he was eventually fired by Louis; when Mike tried to get Louis to hire him back, Louis made Mike vouch for him, which Mike was unable to do. Feeling guilty, Mike called in a favor from a former coworker, Jimmy Kirkwood, and helped Harold get a job at Bratton Gould.

At his new firm, Harold was able to prove himself and became successful, something he credited to Louis' training and preparing him during his days as an associate in the firm. When called back to his old firm, then renamed to Pearson Darby, by Nigel Nesbitt to act as a witness against Louis in a mock trial, he set out to make Louis lose and, through Rachel Zane, only ended up proving him a good teacher. However, after a confrontation, he ends up taking a case against one of his clients, though the two quickly decide on a settlement. It was also through Louis that he found out about Louis' deal with Mike and his job, which he later confronted Mike for.

At one point, Harold was approached by Mike to represent and file lawsuits on behalf of the witnesses on their Hessington case; as a way to get rid of the witnesses, he had Harold agree on a settlement. Because of this incident cited months after by a vindictive James Quelling, and later by the persistent U.S. Attorney Eric Woodall, he is fired by Allison Holt and is later implicated in a conspiracy and some terrorism claims in the aforementioned murder trial. After being fired, Harold went to Mike in a panic. During the short while he and Mike were able to speak, they come up with a decision to lie and say Harold took the case to get back at the firm, not because he was approached by Mike. Having been seen together, presumed to be colluding to cover their tracks, they are both brought in and interrogated in the U.S. Attorney's office. Though initially nervous and skeptical about following through, he went with Mike's plan. Minutes from breaking, Louis arrives, convinces him otherwise, and, as his lawyer, represents him against Woodall and is almost immediately released.

Years later, Louis encounters Harold again when he's posing as Harvey Specter to Ted Tucker who turns out to be Harold's client. Confused by Louis' antics, Harold calls Harvey, who doesn't even remember him, and informs Harold of Louis' actions. Louis convinces a sympathetic Harold to help him in exchange for returning to Specter Litt Williams, the only place where he truly feels at home. Louis ultimately decides to tell Ted the truth and impresses Ted so much as himself that he signs as Louis' client. Louis later tells Katrina Bennett that he didn't have to hire Harold to get out of it in the end because he came clean, but Louis still decided to rehire Harold anyways.

Personality

Harold often appeared hapless and awkward and regularly made mistakes during his work as an associate at Pearson Hardman. He was very timid and was unwilling to stand up to Louis, who would have Harold run personal errands for him without thinking of how it would affect Harold, such as having him take care of his sick cat in spite of his allergies.

Despite his apparent ineptitude, Harold was in fact a very capable lawyer, and the marks he scored on his work at Harvard were high enough to impress even Mike. Harold's awkwardness came from his inability to work in the close environment at Pearson Hardman, stating that he found it difficult to concentrate with people looking over his shoulder and was happier being left to his own devices. Years later, Harold convinces Louis to let him return, telling Louis that the firm is actually the only place where he ever felt at home.

Trivia

  • Harold got a tattoo of a shark in Season 2.
  • He is allergic to cats.
  • He is of Norwegian descent.[S3E8]
  • Harold likes to drink cosmopolitans.

Appearances

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