Charles Harris

Charles E. Harris, II, is a partner in Mayer Brown’s Litigation & Dispute Resolution group. His litigation practice focuses on a range of matters of paramount importance to the business community, including class actions, contract and real estate-related disputes, technology-related disputes, administrative actions, and privacy and cybersecurity. Charles has significant experience in all areas of arbitration. He has represented clients engaged in domestic and international arbitration before many administrators, including the AAA, ICDR, ICC and IFTA. He has also litigated dozens of actions to enforce arbitration agreements. And, in doing so, Charles has faced many threshold questions of arbitrability, such as whether the court or an arbitrator decides if an arbitration agreement permits class arbitration. In addition, Charles acts as a commercial and consumer arbitrator for the AAA. He has presided over arbitrations ranging from complex computer software integration disputes to disputes regarding the control of a business entity.

Prior to joining Mayer Brown, Charles clerked for the late Judge David D. Dowd Jr., of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. He received a BS in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a MS in Biology, summa cum laude, from North Carolina Central University, and his JD, summa cum laude, from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. Charles has received a number of accolades for his leadership and legal experience, including Super Lawyers naming him to its “Illinois Rising Stars” list from 2013 to 2017, The Network Journal honoring him with its “40 Under Forty” Achievement Award, and the Illinois Diversity Council Multicultural Leadership Award.