Suits is an American legal drama, created by Aaron Korsh. It premiered on USA Network in June 2011. The series revolves around Harvey Specter (Gabriel Macht), a senior partner at a top law firm in Manhattan, and his recently hired associate attorney Mike Ross (Patrick J. Adams) as they hide the fact that Mike does not have a law degree. Each episode focuses on a single legal case and its challenges while examining the work environment of the firm, Mike's and Harvey's personal relationships, and problems stemming from Mike's lack of a degree. The rest of the starring cast portray other employees at the firm: Louis Litt (Rick Hoffman), a partner who manages the associates; Rachel Zane (Meghan Markle), a paralegal who develops feelings for Mike; Donna Paulsen (Sarah Rafferty), Harvey's long-time legal secretary, close friend, and confidante; and Jessica Pearson (Gina Torres), the co-founder and managing partner of the firm.

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Harvey Reginald Specter, played by Gabriel Macht, is a newly promoted senior partner at the prestigious New York law firm Pearson Hardman and is known as one of the city's top litigators. He was born and raised in Riverside, NY, the same town as fellow attorney Samantha Wheeler. In the pilot episode, he is told of his promotion to senior partner—the youngest to hold that position—and is forced to hire a Harvard Law School graduate to be his associate attorney. He is impressed with Mike Ross' quick thinking and drive to be a good lawyer, as well as his inherent ability to absorb enormous amounts of information (his photographic memory) and his extensive knowledge of law. Mike, however, does not have a law degree, but is hired anyway because Harvey does not want to waste time interviewing less-promising candidates. Mike reminds Harvey of a younger version of himself, and so they agree to conspire to pretend that Mike is a Harvard graduate. He acts as Mike's mentor, as well as his immediate superior: although he performs these roles somewhat reluctantly and emotionally distantly at first, he later begins to show that he does care about Mike and Mike's future as a lawyer.

Harvey began working in the mail room, went to New York University (NYU) for his undergraduate degree, and Jessica Pearson later paid for his tuition at Harvard Law, from which he graduated in 1997. Though years later Jessica muses to him that he did not take his studies seriously, he still graduated fifth in his class. Although he intended to start his law career at Gordon, Schmidt & Van Dyke (the Pearson Hardman firm's previous name), Jessica sent him to the New York County District Attorney's Office for mentoring and he worked as an assistant district attorney (ADA) under District Attorney Cameron Dennis (Gary Cole). While there, he met his legal secretary Donna Paulsen (at a bar), who became his close friend and confidante. After two years, he discovered a case with which Dennis was suppressing evidence, and rather than report it, Harvey abruptly left the DA's office despite being offered the position of head litigator, to go into private practice at Pearson Hardman. Five years before the events of the series Jessica Pearson informs him that she has discovered an embezzler in the firm and requests that Harvey discreetly investigate; in return, he requests a promotion to junior partner upon its successful completion. While Harvey initially believes the culprit to be Louis Litt whom he falsely accuses, with help from several other lawyers at the firm, including Louis Litt, Harvey discovers that the money is being embezzled by Daniel Hardman, the founding managing partner of the firm who was using Louis as a scapegoat. When Harvey discovers this, he insists that Jessica must report it to the DA; she refuses, choosing to instead confront Daniel, who claims the money is being used to fund his wife's cancer treatments. However, after further investigation, Harvey discovers that in reality the money is being used to finance an affair with a colleague, Monica Eton, whom Louis was also romantically interested in. Shortly afterwards, Harvey learns that his father Gordon succumbed to a myocardial infarction; though visibly devastated at this news, he mourns quietly, choosing to celebrate his promotion instead.

Harvey strongly prefers out-of-court settlements over going to court; Harvey's longstanding belief is that a courtroom has too many variables for him to be able to control, a tenet that was instilled into him by DA Cameron Dennis, his mentor. Despite the fact that Jessica Pearson, his immediate superior, is more cautious and favors lower risk over greater reward, Harvey often ignores her instructions, openly challenges her decisions, and generally does as he wants. While Harvey's methods often result in greater profit for the firm than Pearson's preferred strategy, his risk-taking tends to perpetuate her belief that he needs to remain on a leash. Harvey places his own interests above those of his colleagues, although his job performance always benefits his clients, and, by extension, Pearson Hardman and its employees. He dislikes pro bono publico cases, most likely due to their simplicity; generally, he will assign such cases to Mike Ross. On occasion, however, Harvey will waive his right to collect legal fees for less wealthy clients; in these cases, he insists that this be kept secret for the sake of his reputation.

He has a rivalry with Louis Litt that began when they were associates; though Harvey feels superior to Louis and often mocks him, he respects Louis, acknowledging his financial expertise and commitment to the firm, and considers him a skilled lawyer. This rivalry is later shown to be friendly most of the time; Louis characterizes it as similar to that between Ralph the Wolf and Sam the Sheepdog in the Looney Tunes cartoons. Louis, in turn, reluctantly realizes Harvey's value to the firm. In a season 2 episode, Louis (standing in for Travis Tanner) humiliates Donna on the witness stand in a preparatory mock trial, and Harvey confronts Louis afterwards, stating that Louis has taken their rivalry too far. Louis fires back that, although the experience pained him greatly, he did it to accurately portray the lengths Tanner would have gone to in court if the case had gone to trial.

Harvey performs his work with cold professionalism, rarely showing emotional attachment to his client. However, Harvey expresses a strong loyalty for those who have been loyal to him, such as Donna, his longtime secretary, Ray Benghazi, his driver, and (eventually) Mike Ross, his associate. When confronted about his emotional distance, he states that caring makes a person appear weak, and that a lawyer who shows feelings gets trampled. Because of this belief, he never shows any vulnerability, even to romantic interests. In season 5, Harvey starts having panic attacks as a consequence of Donna leaving him to work for Louis. He starts seeing a therapist.

Harvey has several female romantic interests, but he has trouble committing to a long-term relationship. He briefly dated former colleague Zoe Lawford before their relationship ended. He then attempted to have a real relationship with his Dana "Scottie" Scott in the second half of season 3, which was revealed to be a rekindling of a past relationship. But this ended in the season 3 finale when the two realized they could not handle the necessary separation between their personal and business lives. Later in season 7, he dated Doctor Paula Agard, his therapist but it ended later in the season when she gave him an ultimatum to choose between their relationship and working with Donna.