Georgetown Law

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 the University of Indiana, 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.