Barry J. Pollack is widely recognized as one of the leading trial lawyers in the nation. He has over 30 years of experience representing individuals, including executives and high-ranking government officials, as well as corporations and other organizations, in sensitive and often high-profile trials, appeals, and investigations.
Described by Chambers USA as “a legend in the white collar world” who is “simply one of the best in our profession,” Barry is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and the American Board of Criminal Lawyers, as well as past president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.
He regularly handles matters involving allegations of wrongdoing related to financial and business crimes, public corruption, and national security, including cases involving alleged antitrust violations, fraud in government contracting, and fraud related to securities, taxes, health care and financial services. As a former certified public accountant (CPA), a substantial amount of Barry’s work involves criminal and civil litigation of complex financial matters.
His civil practice involves complex commercial disputes, False Claims Act allegations related to government contracting and health care, First Amendment issues, Civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), professional negligence or breach of fiduciary duty, and suspension and debarment proceedings.
Earlier in his career, Barry was partner at the renowned D.C. white collar criminal defense law firm of Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin LLP and served as an Assistant Federal Public Defender for the District of Maryland.
He clerked for the Honorable Thomas A. Flannery on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.
Notable Matters
Barry has had numerous notable successes throughout his career.
- He negotiated a plea agreement that resulted in the immediate release from prison of long-time client Julian Assange, publisher of WikiLeaks, who had been charged with violating the Espionage Act for publishing classified information leaked by Chelsea Manning.
- After two jury trials in Houston, Texas, he obtained the complete acquittal of a former Enron Corp. executive on criminal fraud charges, one of only two cases that resulted in acquittals in the numerous prosecutions arising out of the collapse of Enron. He also obtained the dismissal of a related Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement action.
- Represented Martin Tankleff, a Long Island, New York man, whose convictions were reversed and all charges against him dismissed after he had served seventeen years in prison, having been wrongfully convicted of murdering his parents as a teenager. Barry then represented Mr. Tankleff in civil suits, obtaining $13.4 million in compensation. The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project honored Barry with its Defender of Innocence Award and the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers honored him with its Gideon Champion of Justice Award for his work on the Tankleff case.
- Obtained the dismissal of a federal public corruption case in the District Court for the District of Columbia based on a pretrial motion challenging venue.
- Obtained not guilty verdicts in a criminal jury trial in which the client, a prominent D.C. lawyer, had been charged with sexual assault.
- Negotiated a plea agreement resulting in probation for a medical oncologist who had been charged with violating antitrust laws, following a federal jury trial in Ft. Myers, Florida which ended in a mistrial.
- Secured the dismissal of an indictment in a federal criminal antitrust case alleging collusion in the poultry industry after two lengthy trials in Denver, Colorado, each ending in a hung jury and no convictions.
- In a case where Barry was retained after guilty verdicts in a federal criminal bribery trial in Sherman, Texas, he won an order overturning the convictions and ordering a new trial, and successfully defended that result on appeal to the Fifth Circuit.
- Obtained not guilty verdicts on charges of bribery against the co-founder of a government defense contractor following a federal criminal jury trial in Alexandria, Virginia.
- Secured the complete reversal on appeal in the Ninth Circuit for a client who had been convicted in a federal jury trial in Tucson, Arizona of conspiracy and embezzlement from an insurance company in an alleged scheme to enrich a U.S. congressman.
- Obtained a writ of actual innocence and $2.4 million in compensation for a man wrongfully convicted of a homicide in Baltimore, Maryland, which had resulted in him serving 25 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.
- Achieved the reversal of a wrongful homicide conviction against a New York City man, who was released after eighteen years in prison.
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