Thomas E. Harmon V

He steps into the arena — so you don’t face it alone

Twenty-five years.

That is how long Thomas E. Harmon V has stood in the arena of criminal defense — in state courtrooms across Minneapolis, Saint Paul, and Greater Minnesota, in federal district court, and before the 8th Circuit.

He has tried cases others declined, researched issues others dismissed, and fought for clients others had written off.

Thomas’s career spans the full arc of the criminal justice system — from the Hennepin County Public Defender’s Office in Minneapolis, where he spent more than a decade representing people charged with felonies and violent crimes, to the Federal Public Defender’s Office in the District of South Dakota, where he handled complex federal criminal matters. He has also prosecuted — serving as Assistant County Attorney in both Ramsey and Washington Counties — giving him an inside understanding of how the government builds its cases, and exactly where those cases can be challenged.

Game-changing Black perspective

As one of Minnesota’s few Black criminal defense attorneys with federal court credentials, Thomas brings a rare and consequential perspective. He understands — not abstractly, but concretely — how race, power, and the law intersect in criminal proceedings.

For clients navigating a system that was not always designed with them in mind, that understanding is not a detail. It’s the difference.

Deep 4th Amendment expertise

Thomas’s 4th Amendment practice is a signature strength. Over the course of his career, Thomas has litigated hundreds of contested suppression hearings — challenging the constitutionality of stops, seizures, and searches, and winning the suppression of evidence and statements that led directly to cases being dismissed.

He pursues these motions aggressively because he knows what they can accomplish: in criminal defense, winning often begins before trial. It begins with the motion.

Experienced — in the courtroom and the classroom

Thomas earned his Juris Doctorate from Hamline University School of Law and his undergraduate degree in Business Management from Howard University.

He currently serves as Adjunct Faculty at the Minnesota State Board of Public Defense Trial School — training the next generation of defenders with the same precision he brings to his own courtroom.