Personal Background
Abigail Harris is an attorney at The Lanier Law Firm, where she serves as a member of the firm’s trial team. After joining the firm, Abigail began her practice in the asbestos litigation section before transitioning to the trial team, where she contributes to some of the firm’s most complex and consequential product liability and personal injury matters.
A Nashville native, Abigail’s interest in plaintiffs’ work took root during her college and law school years, when she worked at a Nashville personal injury firm under the guidance of a mentor who encouraged her to pursue the law.
Abigail earned her bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, graduating summa cum laude. She earned her J.D. from New England Law Boston as a member of the U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor Honors Program, graduating in the top 14 percent of her class. She served as an associate writer for the New England Law Review, where she submitted a case comment for publication.
In law school, Abigail focused on international and national security law. She worked alongside her Law of Armed Conflict professor to draft a piece titled “Contemporary Issues Facing International Law: The Downfalls of High Sea Governance,” and spent a semester researching the regulation of artificial intelligence and emerging technologies under the law of armed conflict. She spent her final law school semester in Washington, D.C., serving in the United States Navy’s National Security Law Division at the Pentagon, where she contributed to one of the first international codes governing autonomous vessels and authored position papers presented by the United States at the International Maritime Organization’s 2024 session.
Abigail’s earlier legal experience includes work at the United States Attorney’s Office in Boston, a clerkship for a judge on the Suffolk County (Massachusetts) Superior Court, a summer with the United States Air Force’s legal office in Charleston, South Carolina, and a clerkship at the Office of the Tennessee Attorney General.
Outside the office, Abigail loves the outdoors with her two golden retrievers, cheers on the Tennessee Volunteers, and spends time with family and friends.
Representative Cases
- Social media addiction lawsuit and litigation: Abigail is a member of the firm’s trial team on the landmark social media addiction lawsuit, KGM v. Meta Platforms, Inc. & YouTube LLC, the first case in the country of this nature to go to trial. The Los Angeles jury held social media platforms, Meta and YouTube, liable for designing their platform to addict children and adolescents. Working closely with Mark Lanier, Rachel Lanier, Sarah Lanier, and Michelle Greene, Abigail contributed to liability workup, witness preparation and cross examination, and nightly trial preparation throughout the seven-week trial. She enjoys helping create key courtroom demonstratives, including one mapping the plaintiff’s years-long, granular use of YouTube to rebut the defense’s contention that the plaintiff used the platform only minimally. Following the firm’s $6 million verdict in March 2026, Abigail has continued to support the litigation’s next phases, including assisting with Rachel Lanier’s testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law on May 13, 2026.
- OpenAI / ChatGPT product liability litigation: Abigail is part of the firm’s team pursuing product liability claims against OpenAI, which has been consolidated into a Judicial Council Coordination Proceeding (JCCP No. 5431, In re: ChatGPT Product Liability Cases) and is pending in the California Superior Court for San Francisco County. The cases allege that OpenAI and Samuel Altman rushed ChatGPT-4o to market while ignoring safety concerns raised within the company and that the product has caused serious psychological harm to users and their families, including suicide. She is involved in case management of the firm’s OpenAI matters.
- Bard PowerPort litigation: Abigail is part of the firm’s trial team that is currently working up the second bellwether case to be tried in the U.S. District Court of Arizona. The litigation has been consolidated into a multidistrict litigation and alleges that implantable port catheter devices were defectively designed and manufactured — particularly due to their polyurethane and barium sulfate composition — causing the catheters to fracture, migrate, and degrade inside patients’ bodies, leading to serious injuries such as infections, blood clots, vascular damage, and embolism.
Community and Professional Activities
Abigail collaborates regularly with co-counsel firms in the mass tort space and frequently takes leadership roles within the firm’s trial team during active trials. She enjoys mentoring the firm’s summer interns and served on a panel lunch & learn for the 2025 intern class at the close of the program.
Abigail recently spoke at the Class of Our Own Women’s Summit in Nashville, addressing the firm’s trial strategy in KGM v. Meta & YouTube, the hurdles overcome in the social media addiction litigation, and the implications of the verdict.