Harris Firm, LLC

Focus and practice areas

Based in Rego Park, in the Queens borough of New York City, the firm works in two areas of law: workers' compensation and Social Security Disability. On the disability side, that covers both Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). Both areas center on the same kind of client, someone who is injured or ill and needs income support during recovery or when a return to work is out of reach.

The firm handles its workers' compensation cases in-house. Its own attorneys and staff carry a claim from the first intake through hearings, so the office that takes the opening call is the same one that gathers the medical evidence and argues the case. Richard T. Harris, the founding attorney, has also represented clients in personal injury and negligence matters, so the firm's experience reaches into claims that sit close to its two main areas. Workers' compensation and Social Security Disability stay the center of the work.

How the team is built

Richard T. Harris founded the firm and leads it today. The firm states it has represented injured workers for over 25 years, and that Richard Harris has more than 28 years of legal experience. In my opinion, that length of time counts for a lot in workers' compensation, where the procedures and the hearing calendar shift often and familiarity saves a client time.

Four more attorneys work with him: Asher Labendz, Kristine Rosales, Kati Fulton, and Carolyn Rose. Paralegals, legal assistants, and administrative staff back up the attorneys. The site does not list a founding year. The stated run of more than 25 years and a group of five attorneys describe an office with a working support structure around each claim.

A group of this size shapes how a claim gets handled. With several attorneys and a bench of paralegals and legal assistants, the firm can assign a matter to specific people and hold continuity as it moves through filings and hearings. For a client, that usually means a familiar point of contact across the length of a case, which matters when a claim runs long.

Reaching clients across the city

Harris Firm represents clients in all five New York City boroughs: the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. The office also works in several languages, among them English, Spanish, Russian, Bengali, French, Punjabi, and Urdu. For a client whose first language is not English, that range removes a common barrier at the moment the claim details matter most.

Language access carries real weight in this kind of case. A workers' compensation or disability claim turns on precise facts: how an injury happened, what a doctor found, what a job required day to day. Handling those details in a client's own language lowers the chance the firm misses something important between the client and the file. The seven languages the firm names cover several of the larger immigrant communities across Queens and the wider city.

The firm offers free consultations in person, by phone, and virtually, and it can meet clients at home or in the hospital. That home and hospital option fits the people the firm represents, because an injured worker often cannot travel to an office in the first weeks of a case.

How these claims move through the system

Both of the firm's core areas run through government systems with their own forms, deadlines, and hearings. Knowing the shape of each explains what steady representation looks like day to day, and where an experienced hand tends to matter. The outline below describes how these claims usually move, not the outcome of any one case.

The workers' compensation track

A New York workers' compensation claim begins with reporting the injury to the employer and filing with the state Workers' Compensation Board. Medical evidence sits at the center of it. Treating doctors document the injury, and an insurer may request an independent medical examination of its own. From there a claim can move to hearings before a workers' compensation law judge, who rules on questions such as the degree of disability, the benefit rate tied to average weekly wage, and coverage for medical treatment. Benefits can include payments for lost wages and care for the injury, and a claim may reopen if the condition worsens later. Much of an attorney's job here is timing: the right form, each deadline, and a client prepared to testify.

The Social Security Disability track

Social Security Disability runs on its own track and its own rules. An application for SSDI or SSI goes to the Social Security Administration, which weighs medical records, work history, and the limits an impairment places on daily function. The agency denies a large share of first applications, so appeals matter: a denied claim can move to reconsideration and then to a hearing before an administrative law judge. Building the record often means gathering treatment notes, test results, and statements from treating physicians, and the agency may send an applicant for a consultative examination. SSDI and SSI answer to different tests, one built on a worker's earnings record and the other on financial need, and a person's facts sometimes fit both. A firm that keeps workers' compensation and disability work under one roof can line the two claims up when a client has reason to pursue each at once.

How the firm works with clients

The firm works on a contingency-fee basis, so a client's cost stays tied to the result of the case. That model is standard in workers' compensation and disability work, and it suits a client base that often cannot pay by the hour during a stretch out of work.

The mix of practice areas and languages points to a client base drawn largely from working New Yorkers and immigrant communities across the boroughs. That squares with the two things the firm does: replace lost income after a workplace injury, and pursue disability benefits for people who can no longer work. Both come down to the same need, keeping money coming in during a hard stretch.

Client accounts share a steady theme. As a reviewer, the pattern I notice is accessibility: people describe an office they could reach and staff who kept them informed as a claim moved along. That reading fits the work itself, since a compensation or disability claim can run for months, and regular contact keeps a client clear on where things stand. The firm's focus holds to two areas, workers' compensation and Social Security Disability, and it runs both from its Rego Park office.