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Barry pollack

PARTNER

Barry J. Pollack is widely recognized as one of the leading trial lawyers in the country.  He is a Fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers and past president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.  Mr. Pollack has over 30 years of experience representing individuals, corporations, and organizations, including executives and high-ranking government officials, in sensitive and often high-profile trials and investigations.

Chambers USA has described Mr. Pollack as a “thorough and deep-thinking lawyer” who “lives, breathes and sleeps trials, and has such a natural way in front of juries.”   “Barry is very client-focused.  He is a terrific lawyer, he is very bright and takes on difficult cases.”  Who’s Who Legal:  Business Crime Defence lists Mr. Pollack as a premier lawyer and has described him as “incredibly gifted.” 

Mr. Pollack’s successes include the complete acquittal of a former Enron Corp. executive on criminal fraud charges, one of only two jury acquittals in the numerous prosecutions arising out of the collapse of Enron, and the dismissal of a related Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement action. Mr. Pollack represented Martin Tankleff, whose double murder conviction was reversed and all charges against him dismissed. In a lengthy hearing, Mr. Pollack led a team of pro bono lawyers who presented evidence that Mr. Tankleff was innocent of the crimes for which he spent 17 years in prison. The Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project honored Mr. Pollack 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.  Mr. Pollack then represented Mr. Tankleff in civil suits, obtaining $13.4 million in compensation for his wrongful conviction. 

Mr. Pollack’s more recent accomplishments include: secured the dismissal of an indictment in a federal criminal antitrust case after two lengthy trials each of which ended in a hung jury and no convictions; in a case where he was retained after guilty verdicts in a federal criminal bribery  trial, 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 behalf of a government contractor following a federal criminal jury trial; and secured the complete reversal on appeal for a client who had been convicted in a jury trial in Arizona of conspiracy and embezzlement from an insurance company in an alleged scheme to enrich a U.S. congressman.

Mr. Pollack is a Fellow in the American Board of Criminal Lawyers and is an adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center where he teaches “Anatomy of a Federal Criminal Trial.”  In his criminal practice, he regularly handles matters involving allegations of fraudulent conduct, false statements and other wrongdoing related to financial and business crimes, public corruption, national security, antitrust violations, government contracting, securities, taxes, real estate, health care and manufacturing.  As a former certified public accountant (CPA), a substantial amount of his 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) charges, employment discrimination, professional negligence and suspension and disbarment proceedings.

Mr. Pollack is a 1986 graduate of Indiana University, High Honors, and a 1991 graduate of Georgetown University School of Law, magna cum laude, Order of the Coif. He clerked for the Honorable Thomas A. Flannery on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Early in his career Mr. Pollack served as Assistant Federal Public Defender for the District of Maryland and was a partner at the renowned D.C. law firm of Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin LLP.   Mr. Pollack is admitted to the bars of the District of Columbia, Maryland and New York.  

Mr. Pollack is a board member of the Washington Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, a board member of Rising for Justice, and a past president of the Mid-Atlantic Innocence Project.

Notable representations include:

• After two lengthy federal criminal trials in Colorado alleging price fixing in the poultry industry, both of which ended in mistrials with no convictions, obtained the dismissal of the case against his client, a national sales manager for a chicken producer.

• In a case where he was retained after trial, won a new trial for two defendants who had been convicted of public corruption after a federal trial in the Eastern District of Texas and successfully defended that decision on appeal. 

• Represented, with Addy Schmitt, a former Maryland state cabinet official charged with bribery.

• Represented, with Addy Schmitt, a principal of a government contractor charged with bribing a government official to obtain contracts; obtained acquittals on all counts following a federal criminal jury trial in Virginia.

• Represented a former CIA officer in an Espionage Act trial involving alleged leaks of national defense information to The New York Times.

• Represented the chief defense counsel of the Guantánamo Bay Military Commissions pro bono in a federal habeas action; successfully obtained the reversal of a ruling by a military judge finding the defense counsel in contempt of court.

• Represented individual employees of a Fortune 500 company in multinational criminal antitrust investigations.

• Led the pro bono defense team for Fernando Bermudez, who had served 18 years of a 23-years-to-life prison sentence for a murder in New York City and had eleven previous attempts to challenge his conviction denied; was lead counsel at an evidentiary hearing that led the judge to rule that Mr. Bermudez was innocent, reverse the conviction and dismiss the indictment.

• Represented an executive of a Fortune 500 company in a criminal investigation of violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

• Represented a former AIG executive in criminal and SEC investigations of accounting improprieties; obtained a non-prosecution agreement from the Department of Justice and no action by the SEC.

• Represented Martin Tankleff pro bono in the lengthy evidentiary hearing on Long Island that led to the reversal of his wrongful conviction for double homicide and his release from prison after 17 years and represented Mr. Tankleff in successful civil claims for compensation.

• Obtained the complete acquittal of a former Enron Corp. executive on fraud charges in federal court in Houston and the dismissal of a related SEC enforcement action. 

• Conducted an internal investigation of violations of the FCPA and other laws related to improper payments made by participants in the U.N. Oil-for-Food program and negotiated a successful resolution with the Department of Justice and the SEC.

• Represented a municipal bond trader in a criminal antitrust investigation.

• Represented a co-founder of an internet currency business on charges of money laundering and operating an illegal money transmitting business.

• Represented a congressional staff member in the Jack Abramoff scandal.

• Represented members of Congress in a House ethics investigations.

• Obtained a presidential pardon for an individual who had been convicted of tax offenses.

• Represented a former state elected official in a criminal RICO prosecution.

• Represented a mortgage lending officer charged in a federal criminal case with defrauding the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development; obtained the dismissal of the indictment following a trial that resulted in a hung jury.

• Represented an executive of a Fortune 500 company in an SEC insider trading investigation.

• Represented the former chief operations officer of a major law firm in litigation arising out of the collapse of the firm.

• Obtained a favorable jury verdict on behalf of a government contractor in a civil contract dispute.

• Successfully represented numerous different health care providers in civil False Claims Act cases.