Jonathan Sidwell, played by Brandon Firla, is the CEO of the Sidwell Investment Group, and Mike’s boss as an investment banker for the first part of season 4. He first appears in the season 3 episode, “Conflict of Interest” as hedge fund magnate/corporate raider Tony Gianopolous’s deputy at Gianapolous Limited Holdings . In his first scene, Louis meets with him to try to prevent Gianapolous from taking over Hessington Oil by providing proof of GLH’s investments in a wide swath of several industries, enough to draw the FTC’s attention for grounds to open an antitrust investigation. Sidwell refuses to recommend that to Gianapolous, claiming Louis’s professional stature is not significant enough to warrant his consideration.
Logan tells him he wants to pursue a hostile takeover attempt on Gillis Industries, which is coincidentally the same company that Mike had earlier pitched to Harvey, forcing Harvey to resolve a conflict of interest. He ends up choosing Logan, because Mike had also put Harvey’s representation of the Sidwell Investment Group (Mike’s employer) formally under review due to Harvey’s earlier stonewalling of Mike’s intentionally non-hostile takeover strategy of Gillis. Cahill returns in season 6 with a proposal for Harvey that could get Mike out of prison early, but it involves Mike informing on Kevin, his cellmate and only friend in prison. It is revealed that Kevin’s father-in-law, William Sutter, is under investigation by Cahill for insider trading. Harvey takes on Sutter as a client in order to tank his defense, while secretly cooperating/colluding with Cahill. This continues for the rest of the first half of the season, and eventually Mike’s deal goes through and he is released.
But this is short lived, ending in the season 3 finale when the two realized they could not handle the necessary separation between their personal and business lives. In the season two episode “Sucker Punch”, Louis has Mike hooked up to a lie detector and asks Mike where he attended law school. Mike answers that he has a diploma from Harvard Law School, which is an essentially true statement, and it seems to have eased Louis’s suspicions. As of the season 2 episode “Asterisk,” Louis has been promoted to senior partner by Daniel Hardman. He has the deciding vote in the firm’s managing partner vote; though he is angry with Hardman for treating him poorly in the past, he is also angry with Jessica for the way she has constantly overlooked him in recent years. He ultimately votes in favor of Hardman which gives Jessica’s position to Hardman by one vote, although this is short-lived.
Mike Ross often comes to her when he thinks he needs help, and she mocks him because he does not really need help; when Mike actually needs help, she provides all the assistance she can. She often jokes that she knows everything, and she is witty and has a sardonic sense of humor. Whenever she solves a seemingly impossible problem for Harvey, Louis or score preview lsat Mike, they inevitably ask how she did it and she often gives the simple response, “I’m Donna.” In season five, Rachel continually struggles to keep Mike’s secret from her parents. When Mike’s former love interest Claire turns out to be the opposing counsel on Mike’s first case as a junior partner, Rachel handles the entire case on Mike’s behalf.
Despite her own ability, Rachel has never been good with taking tests, so she never gets a high enough LSAT score for Harvard. Unable to get into law school, she decided to begin working as a paralegal at Pearson Hardman. Rachel worked as a paralegal for nearly six years before finally achieving an LSAT score high enough for Columbia Law School. Cahill calls the coincidental nature of this into question by asserting that she did it so readily because she and Malone had been engaging in a clandestine romantic relationship. Confronted by this directly by Cahill in front of the judge, Jessica, though infuriated for being cornered with no way out under penalty of perjury, is left with no recourse other than to reluctantly confirm that Cahill’s allegations are true. The judge responds by denying Jessica’s motion, allowing Cahill to proceed with his depositions.
He later reveals while out to lunch with Harvey that in reality he was sent by Darby to help Harvey take over the New York office for him from Jessica. He admits to Harvey that he is intrigued by Donna saying, “she has a body like Elizabeth Hurley and the sass of a Maggie Thatcher”. He reveals that he dated Elizabeth Hurley in 1999; Harvey states that he had dated her the year before. Further on, it is revealed that Stephen administered the bribe money to Colonel Moriga on behalf of Ava Hessington, while also ordering the Colonel to murder six leaders opposed to Hessington Oil’s pipeline. Harvey eventually cuts a deal with Cameron Dennis to have him arrested and charged with the murders, and he is publicly taken into custody while at a restaurant with Donna. In season 8, Hardman reappears as the attorney representing Simon Lowe, a former ZSLWW client who Harvey got fired from his post as CEO.
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, Specter 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. Whilst the exact reasoning for Meghan Markle leaving Suits has not been confirmed, her final season did coincide with her blossoming relationship with Prince Harry. By the time Meghan’s final Suits episode aired in April 2018, she and Harry were engaged.