Our
Attorneys

Eleanor Harlow leads the firm's litigation practice with three decades of trial experience across Ohio's state and federal courts. Her record in complex commercial matters — spanning breach of contract, shareholder disputes, professional liability, and appellate advocacy — reflects a litigator who prepares thoroughly, argues precisely, and understands that a verdict is only the beginning of a successful outcome.

Before founding Harlow & Reed in 2001, she spent a decade at a prominent national firm, where she rose to lead the Ohio commercial litigation group. She returned to Columbus to build a smaller practice with a singular focus: representing clients whose matters genuinely require the attention of a senior trial attorney, not a team assembled to create the appearance of one.

She has tried more than forty matters to verdict and has argued before the Ohio Supreme Court on three occasions. She is recognized annually in The Best Lawyers in America and Ohio Super Lawyers and has been named a Fellow of the Ohio Bar Foundation.

James Reed founded the firm's business and corporate law practice on a conviction that transactional clients deserve counsel who understands the strategic dimensions of a deal — not merely its legal mechanics. In his experience, the work that protects clients most effectively happens before a letter of intent is signed and before disputes arise from documents drafted without sufficient care.

His practice focuses on private mergers and acquisitions, private equity, governance matters, and the particular challenges facing family businesses as they grow, transition ownership, or confront internal conflict. He has represented both buyers and sellers in transactions across manufacturing, distribution, healthcare services, and professional services industries throughout Ohio.

He is a Fellow of the American College of Business Lawyers and serves on the board of directors of the Columbus Chamber of Commerce and the Ohio Business Roundtable. He has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America for corporate law and mergers and acquisitions for more than fifteen years.

Vivienne Marsh joined Harlow & Reed after a decade in private practice in Cincinnati, where she built a real estate and estate planning practice recognized for its depth on matters involving ownership transition, tax exposure, and multi-party transactions. She brought to Columbus a client base that followed her, and a technical background that distinguishes her work from attorneys who treat these disciplines as secondary.

Her real estate practice covers commercial acquisition and disposition, development agreements, complex leasing, and title matters. Her estate planning practice is particularly sought after by owners of family enterprises — clients for whom estate and succession planning intersects with the particular legal and financial structure of a closely held business.

Her LL.M. in Taxation informs an approach to estate planning that is technically rigorous and strategically honest: not every sophisticated instrument serves every client, and she is direct about when simplicity is the better counsel. She is a board member of the Central Ohio Estate Planning Council and an adjunct lecturer at Capital University Law School, where she teaches advanced trusts and estates.