Barry’s practice focuses exclusively on trial and appellate work and in the handling of complex litigation requiring his special talents for dealing with thorny and difficult cases, including class actions and other bet-the-company litigation. His trial and appellate work covers the spectrum of courts and matters.  He has handled a significant number of high-stakes and high-profile cases in state and federal courts in Alabama and beyond.

Notable Cases

• Currently serving as the court-appointed Plaintiffs Liaison and Discovery Liaison Counsel in the Blue Cross Blue Shield Antitrust Litigation MDL. In re Blue Cross Blue Shield Antitrust Litig. (MDL No. 2406), Case No. 2:13-CV-20000- RDP
• Successfully defended at trial and on appeal the executor of a large estate against charges of breach of fiduciary duty and negligence. Ruttenberg v. Friedman, 97 So.3d 114 (Ala. 2012)
• Successfully represented a small business in a landmark case in which the Alabama Supreme Court first recognized the Enhanced Duty of Good Faith when insurance companies retain defense counsel under a reservation of rights L&S Roofing Supply Co. v. St. Paul Fire & Marine Ins. Co., 521 So.2d 1298 (Ala.1987)
• Successfully challenged and invalidated on First Amendment grounds Alabama’s 120-year-old criminal defamation statute, persuading the Alabama Supreme Court to declare the statute unconstitutional. Ivey v. State, 821 So.2d 937 (Ala. 2001)
• Successfully represented at trial and on appeal the victims of a funeral home’s negligence with the unauthorized cremation of their loved one’s body. Akins Funeral Home, Inc. v. Miller, 878 So.2d 267 (Ala. 2003)
• Successfully represented a large, closely-held business in opposing and fending-off an invasive books and records demand from a disgruntled minority shareholder. Pearson v. Westervelt Co., 203 So.3d 73 (Ala.Civ.App. 2016)
• Represented a United States District Judge in disciplinary proceedings initiated and prosecuted by the Eleventh Circuit Judicial Council and the Judicial Council of the United States
• Successfully represented a journalist and a law professor in intervening in a case brought by the families of Colombian union members murdered by paramilitaries, persuading the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit to reverse the district court’s excessive gag order and to unseal much of the court record to the press and public. Romero v. Drummond Co., 480 F.3d 1234 (11th Cir. 2007)
• Successfully represented former Birmingham mayor in enjoining political group for wrongfully using his name and image for unauthorized political endorsements. Arrington v. Major(Jefferson County Circuit Court)
• Successfully represented on a pro-bono basis the only death row inmate to receive clemency from an Alabama Governor in more than forty years. Later, successfully invalidated on federal constitutional grounds an Alabama statute enacted to retroactively overturn the Governor’s commutation. Neelley v. Walker, No. 2:14-cv-269-WKW, 2015 WL 6432017 (M.D. Ala., Oct. 22, 2015)

Personal

Barry grew up in Huntsville, Alabama and attended the University of Central Florida on a debate scholarship. Barry is married to Sherri Ward Ragsdale and they have two children.