Barry Coburn

Barry Coburn, a graduate of Yale University and Harvard Law School, has been litigating complex criminal cases for over thirty years. He began handling significant criminal appellate matters while an Assistant United States Attorney in the District of Columbia, where he argued a large number of substantial criminal cases to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Subsequently, while a federal prosecutor in the District of Columbia, Barry presented to the grand jury the first case in the United States in which the defendant, who was infected with AIDS, was indicted for assault with a dangerous weapon, the weapon being his penis. Barry prosecuted numerous sexual offense and other criminal cases in the District of Columbia. He has handled scores of federal criminal and other appeals, including several in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, in New York.

Since his entry into private practice in 1990, Barry has handled complex criminal matters in the federal and state appellate courts of New York, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia and elsewhere. Relevant experience includes the following:

In the case of United States v. Gongda Xue, currently pending in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the client – a Chinese national residing in Basel, Switzerland – was extradited to the United States following extensive litigation in the Swiss courts. Upon his arrival in the United States, he was incarcerated in the federal detention center in Philadelphia without bond. Over the last several months, Barry successfully defeated the government’s motion to continue Mr. Xue’s detention in an evidentiary hearing before a United States magistrate judge. When the assigned federal district judge reversed the magistrate judge, ordering Mr. Xue’s continued detention without bond pending trial, Barry appealed this decision to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, which reversed the district judge, ordering Mr. Xue’s release. He remains on release pending trial.

Barry has defended a variety of criminal cases at the trial level. He currently represents former Cardinal Theodore McCarrick in numerous federal and New Jersey pending cases, as well as another cleric, accused of sexual assault, pending trial in Virginia.

Barry successfully represented former Air Force Colonel Jeffrey Krusinski, who was himself accused of assault, at trial in Virginia. Related coverage »

The foregoing is just a fraction of the significant cases in which Barry has been involved. He has litigated a number of cases in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. He served with New York federal Judge Rakoff and others on a panel, within the last year, exploring the Rosenberg espionage case, and recently argued a libel case against the New York Times, which is pending decision. Barry also represented, pro bono, one of the most high-profile inmates who was incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay, Omar Khadr.

The Toronto Globe & Mail, referring to the work Barry did at Guantanamo Bay, called him “one of America's premier defense lawyers.”

In late 2020, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia appointed Barry to represent one of the two defendants in the most significant terrorism case currently pending in the United States (relating to two recently extradited alleged ISIS executioners). The Court appointed us to that case.

Barry’s experience encompasses several years at the United States Department of Justice Antitrust Division, where he served as a Special Assistant in the Office of Operations; four years in the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, where he prosecuted numerous significant cases, both local and federal; and eighteen years of private practice. He has tried nearly 200 cases, represented clients in many of the most significant federal white-collar criminal investigations in recent history, and has litigated and tried highly complex civil cases. Barry is consistently recognized as a top white- collar criminal defense attorney and has been selected by Super Lawyer since 2007. His private practice has included the following civil and criminal matters, though he has litigated numerous smaller, less-publicized and confidential matters as well:

· We currently represent a scientist charged with conspiracy to steal trade secrets of a leading pharmaceutical company valued at more than $1 billion;

· Represented an individual charged with government contracting fraud alleging theft of more than $8.4 million from U.S. government agencies. Government sought 57 to 60 months imprisonment. Client sentenced to 6 months of home confinement;

· Represented executive of international procurement company charged with violating Iran sanctions law and engaging in multibillion-dollar fraud scheme. Case dismissed without a conviction after Indictment;

· Represented the former Houston Oilers in an arbitration before the National Football League;

· Represented a software corporation in dispute with another software corporation relating to breach of contract, fraud, copyright, theft of trade secrets and other issues;

· Represented satellite corporation in dispute with defense contractor;

· Internal investigation for and representation of large multi-city law firm in dispute with partner over alleged breach of contract and retaliation concerning a report of sexual harassment;

· Represented dental insurer in legal malpractice action against large multi-city law firm;

· Represented four Liechtensteinian entities in multidistrict litigation in New York;

· Represented Indian tribes and numerous other witnesses in congressional investigations;

· Represented individuals facing the death penalty in federal and state cases in the District of Columbia and Maryland, including the defense of a death-eligible alleged “kingpin” in the longest and most complex federal criminal trial in District of Columbia history;

· Represented a beneficiary in a highly publicized probate case in Prince William County, Virginia, in which a parcel of real property valued in excess of $14 million was restored to the estate after trial;

· Represented the former Director of the United States Peace Corps in Botswana in a criminal matter;

· Successfully represented a physician in a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services relating to the physician’s inclusion in the National Practitioner Data Bank;

· Defended a District of Columbia corporate executive who was sued by an ex-partner for more than $200 million;

· Defended key individuals in the Teamsters and WorldCom investigations;

· Defended persons in the Independent Counsel investigation of former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Pierce;

· Filed a brief in two federal courts on behalf of 72 members of Congress in connection with NSA domestic surveillance activities;

· Filed an amicus curiae brief in federal court on behalf of Norman Ornstein, Thomas Mann, and two other academics in support of position of House of Representatives in case relating to contempt citations against White House personnel;

· Provided legal opinion to House Judiciary Committee relating to possible White House obstruction of justice, in conjunction with testimony by former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan;

· Testified before House Judiciary Committee concerning failure to appoint autonomous Special Counsel to investigate alleged destruction of CIA videotape of “intensive interrogation techniques”;

· Involved, on the defense side, with investigations of former Senator Robert Packwood, former Representative Dan Rostenkowski, former Representative Mary Rose Oakar, and other facets of the House Bank and House Post Office Investigations;

· Assisted the Independent Counsel investigation of former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt;

· Assisted, including the trials of several cases, in the Independent Counsel investigation of former Secretary of Agriculture Michael Espy.

Barry is an active member of the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia Bars, and has tried cases in various other jurisdictions as well. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers (“ACTL”), membership in which is by invitation only and is limited to the top one percent of trial lawyers in each jurisdiction in the United States, and is a member of its District of Columbia State Committee and Access to Justice Committee. He has been recognized in The Washingtonian and other periodicals. He has taught Continuing Legal Education courses in the areas of trial practice, the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, criminal mental health defenses, attorney professional satisfaction, age discrimination, cooperating witness issues, securities fraud and other subjects, sponsored by the American Bar Association, the District of Columbia Bar, the ACTL and other entities. He also has taught courses with the National Institute of Trial Advocacy (“NITA”) and is a certified NITA instructor. Barry has guest-taught trial practice and other courses at Georgetown University Law School, the George Washington University and the University of Virginia Law Schools, and at the Department of Justice’s National Advocacy Center. He has authored articles on the Federal Sentencing Guidelines and other subjects for the New York Times Op-Ed page and other periodicals. He has taught business ethics at the Greater Washington Board of Trade. In 2005 Barry was appointed by the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to chair the Merit Selection Panel considering the reappointment of a Magistrate Judge. In 2006 he was a presenter at a District of Columbia Circuit Historical Society program on the Espy Independent Counsel investigation. He has been active in the lawyers’ committee and the genocide prevention activities of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. He is an active member of the Executive Committee of the District of Columbia Council for Court Excellence and the Board of Directors of the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs and of Tzedek DC, a public service organization devoted to assisting indigent persons in debt.