Barry is one of the leading white-collar criminal defense attorneys in the country. He serves as co-chair of Cozen O’Connor’s Commercial Litigation Department and co-chair of the White Collar Defense & Investigations Practice Group.
In his nearly four decades of practice, Barry has successfully defended companies and individuals under scrutiny for a wide range of criminal activities, including allegations of price-fixing, money laundering, fraud, environmental offenses, gambling, bribery, political corruption, racketeering, and other offenses.
Barry guides clients, whether as target, subject, or witness, through every phase of the criminal justice process — from high-stakes governmental and internal investigations to jury trials and appeals.
A nationally known leader in federal sentencing, Barry is frequently retained to handle the sentencing phase of criminal proceedings and has a record of obtaining sentences lower than requested by prosecutors. Barry is a former co-chair of the U.S. Sentencing Commission’s Practitioners Advisory Group, frequently writes and lectures on sentencing issues, and is a trusted source on sentencing policy for national media organizations.
Since 2012, Barry has also served on the executive committee of the Edward Bennett Williams Inn of Court, and he is currently that Inn’s program director. In this role, Barry closely tracks major developments in white collar law and is embedded in a professional community comprising the nation’s top defenders, prosecutors, and jurists. He co-authors the biannually updated Federal Criminal Practice, a 800-page treatise for criminal defense attorneys.
Prior to joining Cozen O’Connor in April 2004, Barry served as an assistant federal public defender in Washington, D.C. for five years.
Among his many honors and recognitions, Barry has been ranked by Chambers USA for more than a decade and is consistently recognized as a Washington, D.C. Top 10 or Top 100 Super Lawyer. He was named an ALM Trailblazer (2021) for his innovative work on behalf of the gaming industry, and Washingtonian Magazine inducted him into its “Top Lawyers Hall of Fame” based on 15 years of peer nominations.
Indeed, colleagues and peers are unstinting in their praise. Barry is described as: “a top-rate lawyer with great judgment,” “one of the most respected attorneys in the nation’s capital,” and a lawyer of choice for GCs thanks to his “can-do approach, the importance he places on client service, and his unparalleled responsiveness.” One client recently wrote, “Thank you so much for being our lantern through this process. It’s difficult to put into words how grateful we are.”
Barry earned his Bachelor of Arts from Bates College and his law degree, with high honors, from George Washington University, where he was a member of Order of the Coif.